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NYers Mobilize In Wake Of Puerto Rico Earthquakes: 'We Can't Trust The Government' To Send Aid
By
Sydney Pereira
Published Jan 14, 2020
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THAIS LLORCA/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
By
Sydney Pereira
Published Jan 14, 2020
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Since a magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit Puerto Rico last week—killing at least one person, leaving some 5,000 people homeless, and damaging hundreds of buildings—Puerto Ricans in New York have been scrambling to contact loved ones in the aftermath of the disaster.
"It was like a scattered mess that we had to figure out where people were [and] were people okay," Al Cave, an East Harlem bar owner, told Gothamist. His mom's cousin called to let family know they were okay—but his aunt's friend had to relocate after a huge crack formed in her home's wall.
"We had to try to contact friends that we had out there, which was pretty difficult to do because most of them weren't in their homes because it wasn't safe," said Cave, whose bar is hosting a fundraiser on Thursday to raise cash for two Puerto Rican organizations.
"I was worried. I was really hoping everybody was okay, and no one got hurt," he said. "And the second thought to my mind was resources. Does everybody have enough water? Were there people who had shelter? How could we get that to them?"
Ridgewood resident Ana Lopez's elderly aunts and uncles had to relocate to cots set up in a stadium after their senior complex in Ponce was damaged.
"It's been nerve-wracking, especially when we couldn't find out what's going on with them," Lopez, an executive assistant at a city agency, told Gothamist.
"It's been really, really stressful," she said. "When you're over here you feel so helpless. You wanna send food, but where do you send the food?"
Hundreds of earthquakes and aftershocks have hit Puerto Rico, including last Tuesday's, which was the strongest the island has seen since 1918. A magnitude 5.9 earthquake Saturday caused a landslide in Peñuelas.
Governor Andrew Cuomo deployed 115 National Guard members to help with recovery efforts and traveled to the island Tuesday—though during the trip, Puerto Rico-based reporters were reportedly temporarily barred from joining a tour of a damaged power plant, per the orders of the island's government. Mayor Bill de Blasio has sent a total of 28 building inspectors, structural engineers, emergency managers and mental health professionals.
The series of earthquakes come as the island is still recovering from Hurricane Maria in 2017—a disaster that ultimately cost the lives of nearly 3,000 people, a number that President Donald Trump has disputed without evidence.
Now the Trump administration is reportedly refusing to release billions of dollars in disaster aid to the U.S. territory, citing "corruption" concerns, the Daily News reports. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was supposed to distribute $9.7 billion to Puerto Rico beginning last September as a part of natural disaster preparedness—but only $1.5 billion of that has been released. More than 40 members of congress demanded a meeting with HUD Secretary Ben Carson to explain why the department has "chosen to violate the law by withholding these critical resources," a letter the legislators wrote Monday said. (HUD did not immediately respond to a request for comment).
"The last 2 days have been terrifying for myself and countless other New Yorkers who struggled to reach family members in Puerto Rico," Lower East Side Councilmember Carlina Rivera said in a statement last week. Following briefings with local officials and FEMA, Rivera said that "what is most needed are monetary donations to reputable groups on the ground."
For East Harlem filmmaker Andrew J. Padilla, "The most important thing for us is that we get funds out there."
"We know that it's up to us," said Padilla, who is organizing the fundraiser at Cave's bar this Thursday. "We can’t necessarily trust the Puerto Rican government, and we can’t necessarily trust the U.S. government, and we kind of just gotta do it for ourselves."
"For everyone, there's a collective sense of tension and stress. The ground beneath you is shaking every other hour," he said.
UPDATE, 10 a.m. January 15th: HUD reportedly agreed to release more than $8 billion in funds after months of delays, according to a report in Politico. A HUD official told Politico: "Now that a full financial monitoring team is assembled and active, we can move forward with confidence that these disaster recovery funds will reach those who need them the most."
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puerto rico
Sydney Pereira
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