
Photos: what Puerto Rico’s unfolding humanitarian disaster looks like - curtis
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/9/19/16333116/photos-hurricane-maria-puerto-rico
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icpmacdo
'The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has
now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump.'

[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/91408723486904729...](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/914087234869047296)

The Americans really lack a leader with any empathy.

~~~
jquery
She used the TV cameras to grandstand Trump in preparation for her run for
governor. Who you think is lacking empathy really depends on which side you're
already on. The US is doing its best to help a place that's had 85 years to
prepare for a hurricane and she has the audacity to blame the US for not
helping enough, while millions of pounds of food sit rotting on docks and FEMA
works 24/7! Shame on her.

EDIT: Honest question, now that the argument seems to be over whether the USA
is putting forth its maximal effort (which I believe it is). Puerto Rico
doesn't pay federal income tax, which largely funds the response that States
receive. Puerto Rico is not even a territory, it is a commonwealth, and
supposed to be much more independent and self-reliant than States. They even
have their own President. Are they _entitled_ to equal aid that States
receive? If not, it appears what we are doing for Puerto Rico is more charity
as opposed to obligation. So that makes the mayor's statements more
inflammatory and inappropriate than they would otherwise be.

~~~
anarazel
She plead for help. And there's definitely more the feds / military could do.
Puerto Rico is part of the US.

~~~
BigChiefSmokem
The Navy could evacuate the entire island with one aircraft carrier and a few
trips to Miami. Our leaders just do not have the will to do so.

~~~
anarazel
What? There's three million+ people living there. And where are they supposed
to live? And how should they be picked up, with a seriously decimated
transport network?

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addicted
It’s embarassing that this is so underreported in the US. This is a disaster
at an epic scale and it’s just not received anywhere close to the coverage it
deserves. I understand that America may not want to hear about thousands of
people dying in Asia when Houston is submerged. That’s not moral but it’s not
surprising considering human nature. But this is a bunch of Americans on
American land.

It doesn’t help that the President has made it all about how he is the real
victim while golfing in NJ.

~~~
tomswartz07
>in Asia

I think you're misunderstanding.

This is Puerto Rico, a US territory. The people in those images are United
States citizens.

~~~
nopeyoudid
I think the original commenter was saying he could understand why american
media focused on the flooding in houston rather than the flooding in southeast
asia, but there’s no excuse for not covering puerto rico.

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frankdenbow
One of the biggest issues is the holdup of supplies at the port where there
was damage to the facilities. Getting logistics in place when there is a
limited supply of gas/electricity/communication makes everything more
difficult, along with the government bureaucracy.

For anyone who is interested in helping increase the ability of first
responders and folks on the ground to better respond to events like this,
consider building tech and startups that aid in volunteer management and
distribution, communication systems when power and cell towers are down,
logistics networks to get supplies to places in need. Much of this stuff is
not innovative tech, someone just has to care to retrofit solutions that exist
already to the needs of these scenarios. Heck, the Red Cross volunteer signup
page is just a wufoo form. So much can be automated and modernized.

Made a simple site with some resources on where to donate money/goods:
prmaria.com

Disclaimer: Living in San Juan and hearing reports from the ground

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curtis
Has anybody seen a good technical overview about the current situation in
Puerto Rico? I'm not sure what that would look like exactly, but I imagine it
would involve some maps and tables and some actual data. I realize that data
is hard to come by in the early stages of a situation like this, but on top of
that the news media really only seems to report anecdotal stuff with a random
smattering of actual facts thrown in without any context. Is there some media
outlet that's doing a better than average job out there that I don't know
about?

~~~
trendia
> the news media really only seems to report anecdotal stuff with a random
> smattering of actual facts thrown in without any context

There just isn't much money in journalism to do in depth work, which results
in poor quality articles, which reduces people's willingness to pay for it.

It's a downward cycle of despair.

~~~
curtis
I subscribed to the print version of Newsweek for something like 20 years, and
at least in the 80s and 90s it was a pretty decent source of information even
if it was somewhat format limited (think of it as the 168 hour news cycle
rather than the 24 hours news cycle).

But I can't justify that kind of subscription anymore, because I don't read a
single source when reading online, I read from a huge variety of sources.

I've reached the point where I would be willing to pay for good online stuff,
but I am not going to do it by paying for a bunch of subscriptions on a whole
bunch of different sites. But there really isn't any other alternative it
seems like. It seems to me like there ought to be some sort of business
opportunity here.

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beager
What can the rest of America do here? Can you get down there to volunteer? Is
the Red Cross the best place to donate?

And what if this happened in Guam? Hawaii? Alaska? Chicago? What do we think
the response from the US govt would be in any of these cases?

~~~
frandroid
[http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/can-help-hurricane-
victi...](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/can-help-hurricane-victims-
puerto-rico/)

PBS: How you can help hurricane victims in Puerto Rico

~~~
beager
Thank you!

------
esaym
Of course this will be politicized but there is not much we can do except let
time run its course. Supplies have been sent to PR, many weeks ago. But
distribution is not easy. There is not any gasoline to run vehicles. And the
little bit of diesel that is around is used to run chillers to keep perishable
supplies. But that fuel is about to run out too. Which means they'll have
another problem, they'll have tons of stuff that will need to be disposed of
and no where to put it. Its a mess, but this is what happens.

You can't air drop supplies on mountain terrain. It won't land where you want
it, and people will likely die trying to get to it. Many state the help should
have been sent before the hurricane...yea that will work good as your supplies
and volunteers are washed out into the ocean. About the best you can do right
now is pack a sail boat full of hotdogs and start sailing.

~~~
anarazel
> Of course this will be politicized but there is not much we can do except
> let time run its course.

Huh? The three star general now commanding the military effort says he doesn't
have the necessary resources (neither hardware, nor staff). There's just forty
or so helicopters ferrying stuff around.

Seriously? That's the best the US is supposed to be able to do?

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nkg
When I see this kind of damages, and what happened to St-Martin and St-
Barthelemy, I thank God that my island has not been under the eye of Maria.

I have seen storms before, but that was a different beast!

I am hopeful that more people now understand the importance of housing and
building standards.

------
narrator
I wonder if there is some paranoid prepper somewhere on San Juan who is now at
his cabin in the mountains eating his storeable food, etc. Their doomsday
scenario finally arrived and all. Probably not. Even if there was, their
carefully prepared stuff probably got trashed during the storm.

~~~
nkg
Since Maria and Irma, I have been thinking about how I can make my house self-
suficient. Water storage is becoming cheap, and I hope solar will also become
affordable when Tesla solar roof will be sold outside the US.

~~~
jdavis703
Water storage is important, especially in case of a radioactive event, but for
most cases you probably want a water filter, such as a Life Straw. You can
probably filter more water than you can store (unless you have a very large
water tank).

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zo7
There are a lot of charities that have been working to help areas affected by
these recent storms and earthquakes. Is there an easy way to donate and have
it be spread across several trusted charities at once? What is the best way to
help here?

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amelius
I'm no expert, but I suspect that because Puerto Rico has ties to the US, it
probably receives more funding than the other islands in the area.

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ShabbosGoy
I'm always taken aback by the people who decide to stay when they've been
ordered to evacuate. That must require either a Herculean level of courage or
an incorrect estimation of the real danger posed by certain classes of
tropical storms.

~~~
mlevental
this is one of the most out of touch responses I've ever seen anywhere. it's
an island 1000 miles from the mainland populated by predominantly poor people.
what do you except them to do? swim?

~~~
ShabbosGoy
I didn't specifically reference Puerto Rico. Obviously if you are on an island
surrounded by water you cannot leave. I was referencing people that have the
means and capability to leave, but don't because of sheer stubbornness.

~~~
zo7
> I didn't specifically reference Puerto Rico.

You commented on a post that was specifically about Puerto Rico.

