Translate page with Google

Story Publication logo November 19, 2017

Nearly Eight Weeks After Hurricane Maria Hit Puerto Rico, the Struggle for Basic Supplies Continues

Author:
Rosalda Olma, a wife and mother to three kids, opens the front door to what remains of her home in Loiza. The entire home and contents were destroyed by the hurricane, and the family is living in a nearby school for the time being. “It’s hard getting used to these living conditions,” she said. “All five of us are trying to fit inside a single room.” Image by Ryan Michalesko. Puerto Rico, 2017.
English

Weeks after Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, the island continues its battle for food...

SECTIONS

FAJARDO, Puerto Rico • One after another, Carmen De Jesús Rodríguez, a 92-year Fajardo native, began listing all of the hurricanes she has survived: San Felipe Segundo, San Ciprian, Hugo and Georges. Now she adds Maria to that list.

“This was the worst hurricane I have witnessed. It came with a different intensity,” Rodríguez said.

“The sound was horrific and the rain and wind remained violent for more than 12 hours.”

Sitting high on a hillside overlooking the northeastern coast of Puerto Rico, her home of the past 70 years sustained roof damage.

Several sections of tin were torn off during the storm and the areas are now covered with tarps, casting a bright blue hue into the home during the daytime. To her that’s better than her home fared during the 1932 Category 3 Hurricane San Ciprian.

When Rodríguez was just 7, she recalls, she spent the first hours of San Ciprian at school. Her parents’ house, which was made of wood and palm fronds, was destroyed.

Usually a happy person, Rodríguez says she doesn’t have much to complain about. At 92, she can still think straight, walk short distances and pass time by sewing.

She attributes her good health and continued survival to divine protection.

“I don’t have woes anymore because I leave everything in God’s hands,” she said more than once during an interview. “I have been more than blessed. He has let me live this long.”

Short distance, big difference

In Fajardo, Rodríguez has no difficulty getting food or water — a drastic difference from many other places on the island. Just 45 minutes down the road, in Loíza, the water service is just now beginning to work intermittently, according to a town librarian, Maritere Sanjurjo.

“We’ve struggled to get basic needs such as gas, food and water because it is so overpriced,” Sanjurjo said.

In Loíza, a 24-pack of bottled water sells for as much as $21 — in Las Piedras it is $34.

However, in San Juan where much of the city is quickly recovering, the same 24-pack is just $4.

Sanjurjo said residents of Loíza haven’t seen Federal Emergency Management Agency workers in town since Oct. 28. She attributes many of the ongoing problems to a lack of preparedness by all levels of government.

“The government logistics were inadequate from the start,” she said. “I volunteered in a shelter, and the housing department didn’t provide any beds or drinking water. People had to bring their own bedding and bathe in the rain.”

We’re not leaving

Rosalda Olma, of Loíza, lived with relatives for several days after her family’s home and contents were destroyed. She and her family of five now live in a small room at the school where her husband works.

The school doesn’t have functioning restrooms, so they walk home to use what remains of theirs — which is now covered only by a piece of scrap metal.

“It’s hard getting used to these living conditions,” she said. “All five of us are trying to fit inside a single room.”

While many people have decided to flee the island, for Rodríguez, Sanjuro and Olma, the decision to stay in Puerto Rico was easy.

“I was born here, I grew my family here, I’m not leaving here,” Olma said. “We will rebuild it all.”

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED TOPICS

yellow halftone illustration of an elephant

Topic

Environment and Climate Change

Environment and Climate Change

Support our work

Your support ensures great journalism and education on underreported and systemic global issues