In response to President Trump’s comments on the “incredible, unsung success” of the US government’s emergency response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, María Concepción, Oxfam America’s Program Manager in Puerto Rico, said:
“The US government’s response in Puerto Rico fell far, and tragically, short. All of us who rode out the storm in Puerto Rico nearly one year ago know first-hand how devastating Hurricane Maria was at the time. But we also lived through the horrific aftermath and we know the toll it took on the most vulnerable. Thousands of people died while waiting for power, water, and medical care. That is not an “incredible success” by any measure.
Countless people languished during the excruciatingly slow process of restoring power across the island, especially in the central highlands. We know of people who lived in the dark and were forced to carry buckets of water to their homes for months. Without water, it was nearly impossible to adequately care for people who were bedridden or ill. Without power, it was impossible to communicate and run medical devices among other life-saving equipment.
The jump in the official death toll from Hurricane Maria from 64 to 2,975 would make it the second deadliest hurricane in US history, with a death toll more than 50 percent higher than that of Hurricane Katrina. The findings unfortunately came as no surprise to those on the island who endured months without power or running water. The death toll study found that the storm was especially deadly for vulnerable populations, such as those living in poorer regions or suffering illness, with a death rate 45% higher for populations living in lower socioeconomic groups. And due to the latent effects of the hurricane, the toll could very well be higher than recent studies show.
President Trump said the Hurricane Maria response was “one of the best jobs that's ever been done with respect to what this is all about.” Oxfam believes that “what this is all about” is the safety and dignity of the people who endure these kinds of storms of historic proportions. We are extremely concerned about the fragile state of Puerto Rico’s services, infrastructure, and state of recovery going into the 2018 hurricane season, and can only hope the US government is better prepared for this week’s impending storms, including Hurricane Florence and the tropical storms building in the Caribbean. If the US government’s response to Hurricane Maria is any indication, we have a long way to go.
We hope the people in the path of Hurricane Florence manage to adequately prepare for and recover from the storm – and we urge them to take care of each other now and in the aftermath.”
