Having been hit by the “Dire Trio”, many natural disasters have exacerbated the current poverty-stricken status of many Puerto Ricans. Beginning with Hurricane Maria to the earthquakes in 2019-2020 and the effects of COVID-19, Puerto Ricans have suffered billions of dollars in damage. Approximately ninety billion dollars worth of damage was caused by Hurricane Maria alone. More than ten thousand people across Puerto Rico were placed in shelters/camps, and the whole population suffered electricity loss and was pushed into a terrible humanitarian crisis. Maria also wiped out about 80 percent of the island’s crop value, worsening the nation’s already-fragile food supply. To worsen the matter, Puerto Rico’s geological location made it prone to earthquakes caused by the North American tectonic plate sliding under the Caribbean plate near the island. Initially causing damage estimated at three point one billion dollars in January 2020, the earthquakes of 2019 and 2020 intensified the housing issues previously caused by Hurricane Maria. William Rodríguez Rodríguez -the administrator of public housing – explains that the bankrupt Puerto Rican government was taking many actions were taken to combat the issue of damaged homes, including federal housing vouchers and public housing. However, many citizens refuse to leave their neighborhood areas and take up government offers. Jenniffer Santos-Hernández – a research professor at the University of Puerto Rico – says that the current living conditions in Puerto Rican housing services are “inhumane” as authorities have not done enough to create temporary housing services located near the people’s homes. Hernández described one community of one-room shacks with metal roofs as a “shantytown”. To add on, the 2019-2020 earthquakes left not only physical damage but mental as well. The Puerto Rican suicide hotline grew up to 1,600 per day! To make matters worse in 2020, COVID-19 left many more families in further unstable conditions. The unemployment rate, between March 16th and 30th of 2020, rose by approximately seventy-six thousand, nine hundred and twenty-eight additional Puerto Ricans who applied for unemployment benefits. In addition to causing the death of over five thousand people, more than a total of one million Puerto Ricans were diagnosed with coronavirus. Here in the United States, easier access to housing and medical services is often taken for granted because of the abundance of help services and measures set in place. All across Ibero-America, not only Puerto Rico, there are many people struggling due to such geographical and medical crises – making it our duty to lend a helping hand from our abundance.
5/30/23
Works Cited:
“Puerto Rico – Covid-19 Overview – Johns Hopkins.” Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/us/puerto-rico. Accessed 29 May 2023.
“The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Puerto Rico.” American University, 1 Nov. 2020, www.american.edu/cas/news/catalyst/covid-19-in-puerto-rico.cfm#:~:text=Puerto%20Rico%20has%20been%20hit,Ricans%20applied%20for%20unemployment%20benefits.
Rodriguez, Erika P. “Months after Puerto Rico Earthquakes, Thousands Are Still Living Outside.” The New York Times, 1 Mar. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/us/puerto-rico-earthquakes-fema.html.
“Puerto Rico Earthquakes.” Center for Disaster Philanthropy, 9 June 2022, disasterphilanthropy.org/disasters/puerto-rico-earthquakes/.
Hassan, Adeel. “Why Are so Many Earthquakes Happening in Puerto Rico?” The New York Times, 7 Jan. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/us/why-puerto-rico-earthquake.html#:~:text=The%20Puerto%20Rico%20Trench%2C%20north,that%20can%20set%20off%20tsunamis.
“The Facts: Hurricane Maria’s Effect on Puerto Rico.” Mercy Corps, 13 Apr. 2023, www.mercycorps.org/blog/facts-hurricane-maria-puerto-rico#covid-19-effect.
“¡Estamos Bien, Puerto Rico!” Natural Hazards Center, hazards.colorado.edu/quick-response-report/estamos-bien-puerto-rico-compounding-disasters-and-young-adults-in-puerto-rico#:~:text=Over%20the%20past%20four%20years,19%20pandemic%20of%202020%2D21. Accessed 29 May 2023.