Washington, D.C. - Hurricane Maria affected 3.4 million of our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico, stranding many without shelter, food, electricity, and services. They are disconnected from the rest of the world and facing a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions. All of Puerto Rico lost power, hampering communications and complicating recovery efforts. Without clean drinking water, power or services, hope is running out and lives are at stake.
This disaster has already claimed 20 lives and the death toll is expected to rise. Another 70,000+ people are also in danger of flooding if a dam in the Northwestern part of Puerto Rico collapses.
"Never in the history of Puerto Rico or the United States has a hurricane left so many without electricity, water, communications, or fuel", said Voces leader, Dr. Juan Declet-Barreto. "The measures taken by the U.S. Government to date are simply not enough to protect the lives of millions of American citizens and more must be done.”
While we appreciate efforts to ease FEMA requirements and the recent temporary waiver of the Jones Act, there remains an urgent need to immediately take the following measures to ensure the security of the population in Puerto Rico:
- Order the Department of Defense to provide helicopters and other resources to relief and rescue to Puerto Rico.
- Provide an initial emergency spending package to Puerto Rico clean and free from rollbacks of environmental protections. Like the aid packages approved for Texas and Florida, the 3.4 million Americans who live in Puerto Rico need urgent life-saving aid.
"Much more needs to be done right away and local recovery efforts must inform next steps. However, the urgency of saving lives now cannot be understated," said Irene Vilar, Executive Director of Americas for Conservation+Arts
The priority now is to save lives and restore basic services. Once this phase is complete, we must ensure that the reconstruction of the power grid, drinking water and other infrastructure in Puerto Rico be carried out in a sustainable manner with a focus on building resiliency against flooding and the effects of climate change.
Luis Martínez, Senior Attorney and director of Southeast Energy for NRDC added, "This tragedy provides an opportunity to rebuild Puerto Rico’s water and electric infrastructure in a resilient and sustainable way. Climate change is causing more intense and devastating hurricanes like Maria and places like Puerto Rico and other coastal areas must reduce their vulnerability to ensure that communities are prepared and protected against future climate challenges."