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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Puerto Rico crisis ongoing months after Hurricane Maria |
| 2017-11-30 |
| [Al Jazeera] Puerto Rico remains in dire straits more than two months after Hurricane Maria slammed into the US territory, according to humanitarian organizations and US politicians. Puerto Rico's situation "remains quite serious and will require significant support for some time to come", Andrew Schroeder, director of research and analysis for global medical nonprofit Direct Relief, told Al Jazeera. "Direct Relief is planning to continue extensive support throughout the health system for the foreseeable future," he said. The island, an American territory whose people are US citizens, was dealing with a debt crisis before Maria hit, devastating its power grid and water infrastructure. Puerto Rico owes creditors more than $70bn with an additional $43bn owed in pension payments. The hurricane had sustained winds of 250km per hour when it made landfall on Puerto Rico on September 20, killing at least 55 people. Maria followed Hurricane Irma, the most powerful Caribbean hurricane on record, which grazed Puerto Rico on September 6. The ensuing damage, estimated to cost up to $95bn, has left Puerto Rico in a healthcare crisis. Direct Relief has provided community medical centres with more than $300,000 and airlifted 76 tonnes of medical supplies to Puerto Rico over the past two months. Schroeder was quick to say the crisis, along with many others, predates Maria. Before the hurricane, 73 of 78 municipalities were "medically underserved" by the US government. Schroeder explained a number of issues have contributed to the emergency, including Puerto Rico's debt and the "brain drain" of qualified medical practitioners leaving for the mainland United States. "Particularly in the interior of the island, communities faced chronic underinvestment compounded by crippling public debt," he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #12 In a democracy, you are supposed to vote the scoundrels out periodically. Well, they can't do what all the states do - take the worst scoundrels and ship them off to DC. |
| Posted by: P. Glilet5011 2017-11-30 19:35 |
| #11 Where's Bill Clinton? Oh, maybe that didn't work out. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2017-11-30 12:45 |
| #10 Alexander Tyler-- A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2017-11-30 10:57 |
| #9 In a democracy you are supposed to vote the scoundrels out periodically. But if they're all scoundrels? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2017-11-30 10:12 |
| #8 The real insanity is how the PRs keep voting for these idiots on the left when it is so obvious they are feeding at the trough and not doing anything to correct problems. Amazing. In a democracy you are supposed to vote the scoundrels out periodically. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2017-11-30 10:07 |
| #7 There was a great deal of aid sent their for hurricane relief to PR. What happened to the stuff or is this a dumb question? Haiti redux but all done locally without U.S. foundations help? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2017-11-30 09:58 |
| #6 Let me get this right, the people who looted their own treasury are expected to put the place back in order? /rhet question |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2017-11-30 08:20 |
| #5 Hey give 'em a break. It takes a lot of time and effort to properly apportion all the graft. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2017-11-30 07:30 |
| #4 and now the full-time support of Luis "La Chihuahua" Gutierrez? Haven't they suffered enough? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2017-11-30 07:23 |
| #3 Well, from doing this for Thousands of Years, I learned that the only way people learn is by hardship, pain, or death. And that will never change. It never does. So this is just more learning that the government worshipers will forget. |
| Posted by: newc 2017-11-30 05:08 |
| #2 Crippling debt, chronic underinvestment, pension payments that cannot be made, infrastructure gone missing -- coming soon to a country near you? |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2017-11-30 03:41 |
| #1 None of you want to get better, ever. You are helpless before that phony government you worship that has spend a century spending money on solving the same problems and you got nowhere. Labor disputes during catastrophic damage and possible loss of life tells me you lost the basic humanity to run a civilization. That must change now because you are being watched. Do the right thing, and you may form a Brotherhood, but this corruption will forever keep you divided. For you I most certainly would not sew another star on the Flag. Get yourselves together and fix it. |
| Posted by: newc 2017-11-30 01:58 |