Powerless Puerto Rico - Lauren Rothert

It has been twelve days since Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, and only 5% of the island has power. School began on August 14th, but students have already missed two weeks due to Hurricane Irma. The reopening of schools does not look like it will happen anytime soon, the targeted reopen date is October 16th. With a student population of 350,000, and 1,113 public schools on the island, only 400 have been assessed for damage. The delivery of food and water throughout Puerto Rico has been expanded; 1 million liters of water and 1 million meals were said to have been delivered on Sunday. To put things in perspective; 41% of the island has potable water, half of the grocery stores on the island are operating, only 5% of the island has power, out of 1,110 gas stations 710 were working (with a 9pm curfew, and sometimes before then), 11% of the phone towers are operational leaving 36% of the island with cell service, out of 139 shelters there are about 8,800 people occupying them, and 51 out of 69 hospitals are running at capacity.

This is hard to believe, twelve days after the Hurricane and the citizens are still facing these hardships. I think all of the percentages listed at the end of my summary really helped me understand, the gravity of this situation. I hope they are able to restore power to the whole island, because without power you can't do much. I also hope the students return to school soon, it must be hard to not be able to see your friends at school and know if they are okay or not. I can connect the damage of this hurricane to the damage caused by Irma. Although things have lasted much long in Puerto Rico, Florida experienced the same hardships.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/01/us/puerto-rico-schools-closed-for-weeks/index.html