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Time Magazine: One month after Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria

Jackpot

Banned
http://time.com/4988841/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-numbers-recovery/

On Sept. 20 Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico, leaving at least 48 people dead and decimating the island's already crumbling power grid.

Texas and Miami were also ravaged by severe weather, in the two hurricanes that preceded Maria, but relief efforts there quickly restored basic infrastructure. One month on, however, much of the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico still looks the way it did immediately after the hurricane receded northwest towards the Dominican Republic.

Here is a by-the-numbers account of how things on the island currently stand.

  • More than a third of Puerto Rican households, or about 1 million people, still lack running water according to CNN.
  • FEMA says it has distributed 23.6 million liters (6.2 million gallons) of bottled and bulk water in Puerto Rico. That figure includes water for hospitals and dialysis centers
  • These deliveries equate to only 9% of the island's drinking water requirement, going by the World Health Organization's (WHO) assessment that each person needs at least 2.5 liters (2/3 of a gallon) per day. Some residents are so desperate for drinking water they have broken into polluted wells at industrial waste sites.
  • The shortfall is far greater when you consider the WHO also recommends 15 liters per person per day for basic cooking and hygiene needs. Dirty water ups the risk of diseases like cholera and at least one person has died as a result of being unable to get to dialysis treatment on time, CNN reports.

More stats at the jump.

In the meantime Trump has reiterated his comments that federal aid is costing too much money, that everything was already broken before the hurricane hit, and for a bonus spouted multiple new lies. This was whilst sitting next to PR's governor who seemed to happily go along with it.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/19/trump-puerto-rico-response-243948

Trump gives his team a '10' for its Puerto Rico hurricane response

The president’s kind words for Rosselló — “I can tell you, you are a hardworking governor” — were mixed with slight digs at the U.S. territory, which he singled out for being in “rough shape” even before the storms blew through. He also called out roads he said were “in really horrific shape” before the hurricanes, as well as the “pretty well destroyed” power grid and the territory’s “massive” debt.

“I’d say it was probably the most difficult when you talk about relief, when you talk about search, when you talk about all of the different levels, and even when you talk about lives saved,” Trump said. “You look at the number. I mean, this was — I think it was worse than Katrina.”

Trump, in his trademark hyperbole, insisted no one has ever seen a hurricane hit land like in Puerto Rico. “They got hit dead center — if you look at those maps, by a category 5. Nobody’s ever heard of a [category] 5 hitting land,” he suggested. “Usually by that time it’s dissipated. It hit right through — and kept to a [category] 5. It hit right through the middle of the island, right through the middle of Puerto Rico. There’s never been anything like that. I give ourselves a 10

The federal government, Trump noted, is “helping a lot,” and “this is costing a lot of money.” He maintained, however, that the Trump administration has an obligation to Puerto Rico, humanity and “ourselves.” Even so, the president made clear that the federal government’s presence can’t be in Puerto Rico forever.

“I can say that for anywhere. I can say that for anyplace we go,” Trump said. “At some point, FEMA has to leave, first responders have to leave and the people have to take over.”

The president has claimed that James Lee Witt, who headed FEMA in the Clinton administration, had given the Trump administration an A-plus for its hurricane response, including Puerto Rico. Witt, however, has said the grade is only applicable to the federal response in Texas and Florida because it’s too soon to grade the response in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Nevertheless, Trump continued touting the new talking point.

“It was very nice that the gentleman who worked for Bill Clinton, when he was president, gave us an A-plus, and that included Puerto Rico,” Trump said. “Gave us an A-plus, and I thought that was really very nice. And I think — I really believe he’s correct. We have done a really great job.”

He added later that the hurricanes that rocked Puerto Rico were “actually bigger than anything we’ve seen, and yet I think our response was better than anyone has ever seen.”

“And again,” he said, “we were given A-plus by the man who did this, did what you were doing, for the Clinton administration. And while I don’t know him, I would like to thank him for what he said.”

And, as if that weren’t enough assurance, he turned to Rosselló. “Governor, I just wanna maybe ask you a question because for the spirit of these people that have worked so hard and so long,” the president began, “did the United States, did our government when we came in, did we do a great job? Military, first responders, FEMA, did we do a great job?”

“You responded immediately, sir,” the governor said. “The response is there. Do we need to do a lot more? Of course we do. And I think everybody over here recognizes there’s a lot of work to be done in Puerto Rico, but with your leadership, sir, and with everybody over here, we’re committed to achieving that in the long run.”

What are you supposed to do when even your own governor is willing to sell you out for a photo opportunity?
 
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