Seven weeks after hurricane Maria, most of Puerto Rico still doesn’t have power. The hurricane itself cost the country almost ninety-four billion dollars in damage.
Puerto Rico is considered a U.S territory, yet it has not gotten the help that it needs from America. President Trump has claimed that America has done all that they can possibly do, and now Puerto Rico is on its own.
In comparison to hurricane Katrina, hurricane Maria was a category 4. A storm that washed over an entire island. According to NBC reports, the residents of Puerto Rico only received 4.4 million meal kits and 6.5 liters of water distributed around the whole country after nine days. For reference, 3.4 million people currently live in Puerto Rico. A week after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, there were 25 million meal kits and 1 million liters of water. The population of New Orleans was under 300,000.
If Puerto Rico is going to continue to be an American territory, then we need to treat it like it is. The small donations that we have made haven’t been enough, and that has been voiced by the governor, Ricardo Rossellè.
The response to helping our people in need isn’t what it needs to be. Puerto Rico still doesn’t have enough food to suffice the entire country, much less has the power to generate a whole U.S territory. One of the main concerns of the citizens of Puerto Rico is currently their mental health. 6,000 patients have been admitted to mental health hospitals since the natural disaster, and the number continues to rise every day.
In America, we allow things that need to be talked about get slipped under the rug. We would rather ignore issues that make us question our humanity. Especially when it comes to something that hasn’t affected us personally, we don’t seem to care. That needs to change.
Below will be places that you can donate to help an American citizen, just like you. Take the initiative, be the change.
https://www.hands.org/projects/usvi-hurricane-response/
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/dominica-hurricanerelief