猫咪社区

The Earth began to shake as Tamar Hern谩ndez drove to visit her mother in Yauco, Puerto Rico, on Dec. 28, 2019. She did not feel that first tremor鈥攕he felt only the ensuing aftershocks鈥攂ut she worried because her mother had an ankle injury and could not walk. Then Hern谩ndez thought, 鈥淲hat if something worse is coming our way?鈥�

Her hunch was right. In the twilight hours of Jan. 7, 2020, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck the U.S. territory, with its epicenter near the city of Ponce on the south coast, a few miles from Hern谩ndez鈥檚 hometown. Buildings trembled throughout the territory, but the southwest took the brunt of the quake, with dozens of partially or completely collapsed dwellings, including a school and a church, according to a from El Nuevo D铆a. The island鈥檚 primary power generation plants in the southern area of Puerto Rico failed, immediately plunging the territory into darkness.

As a survivor of Hurricane Maria鈥檚 devastation in 2017, Hern谩ndez was consumed with anxiety and desperation at the prospect of having to live through another natural disaster, and watching the government mismanage the recovery again. 鈥淢y father鈥檚 Alzheimer鈥檚 progressed since the storm, and dealing with an equal emergency was unthinkable,鈥� she said, before bursting into tears. She doubted she could maintain her economic stability after the earthquake damaged her nail business in the urban center of Yauco.

Help did arrive, although it didn鈥檛 come from the government initially. Instead, a hyperlocal response made up of disparate nonprofits and volunteers arrived and provided much needed aid, even during continuing aftershocks. Hern谩ndez said she was especially thankful for the response from one community organization, Tabernacle Followers of Jesus Christ.

Those volunteer initiatives sparked a feeling of trust in refugee camps, said V铆ctor Amauri, a social worker and one of the help coordinators with Solidarity Brigade of the West, which is made up of people from many organizations who provided direct response to help communities after Hurricane Maria.

鈥淪trategizing after the hurricane and developing short- and long-term plans was our strong suit,鈥� Amauri said. 鈥淣ow, it isn鈥檛 straightforward to plan something for tomorrow, because everything changed. Misinformation and lack of transparency from the federal and local governments are preventing us from helping our people as they deserve.鈥�

The group leaders of the Solidarity Brigade used to meet in Mayag眉ez to organize community building projects. They would teach about composting and orchard keeping, and promote grassroots efforts to enhance food security and local agriculture as tools of self-sustainability.

鈥淏ut in this context, we cannot think ahead,鈥� Amauri said. 鈥淲e are still handling dozens of cases of families that are sleeping on the floor because, even though we are a country prone to hurricanes and, thanks to our location in between fault lines, earthquakes, the authorities never developed an emergency plan response.鈥�

A report by the Center of Investigative Journalism of Puerto Rico, the 鈥攖he culmination of years of requesting public documents鈥攆ound that despite Puerto Rico鈥檚 vulnerability, the territorial government had taken limited measures to tackle natural disasters. Even though investigative work in 2017 uncovered evidence that the death toll of Hurricanes Maria and Irma was much higher than the 鈥�, a little less than twice as many as in Hurricane Katrina鈥攁nd the territory鈥檚 ability to respond to emergencies has not improved much. 

The government鈥檚 inefficient response has led to the formation of several citizen coalitions that know the needs of their communities. The Single Voice Movement is a conglomerate of local nonprofit and community-based organizations that already developed a two-year response plan for earthquake-affected communities. The projects developed by these entities have a vision that looks inward toward active communities capable of supporting themselves and their neighbors, said Cora Arce Rivera, executive director of Aspira de Puerto Rico.

Aspira鈥檚 alternative school in the western town of Mayag眉ez allows teenagers, most of them school dropouts, to explore the significance of agriculture. The students are learning to cultivate tropical root and tuber crops that can germinate in unfavorable conditions. They are particularly resistant to damage by high wind hurricanes and typhoons, Aspira鈥檚 agronomist Francisco Acevedo said.

Jos茅 Esteban L贸pez Maldonado, a student at the elite Residential Center of Educational Opportunities in Mayag眉ez, runs a in the small mountainside municipality of Adjuntas. In 2016, he managed to acquire one of the hundreds of schools closed by the local Department of Education and transformed it into a coworking space where people can learn about hydroponic cultivation, coffee planting, and greenhouses. USDA Rural Development, which offers loans and grants to economic development projects, has offered L贸pez help to improve the infrastructure of the school, but local authorities have not been able to provide him a proof of ownership so he can take advantage of the program, he said.

The island also faces a  and  imposed by the federal Financial Oversight and Management Board. Jos茅 Caraballo-Cueto, an economist and assistant professor at the University of Puerto Rico, said the bureaucracy around government processes exemplifies how the island is the perfect prey for disaster capitalism. 鈥淩estoration doesn鈥檛 have the impact it deserves on the local economy because the biggest beneficiaries are not locals,鈥� Caraballo said. 鈥淎 private law firm is even handling the cases of lack of proof of ownership post-Hurricane Mar铆a.鈥�

In Puerto Rico, almost 92% of houses were damaged by the hurricane, according to a from the American Bar Association. More than 95% of those tenants, about , applied for the Federal Emergency Management Agency鈥檚 Individuals and Households Program in 2018, but a FEMA spokesman told NBC News that 335,748 proving ownership of their homes.

Situations such as this one eroded Puerto Ricans鈥� belief in local and federal institutions, which have promoted new governance models, said Arturo Massol Dey谩, the executive director of 40-year-old environmental nonprofit Casa Pueblo.

In 150 locations across the island territory, Casa Pueblo ensured that, after Maria, those with the most urgent need for electricity received solar panels, including hospitals, small bodegas, and the homes of aging residents who required dialysis. In the recent earthquakes, the solar power systems proved to be more resilient than the .

In the wake of Hurricane Maria, Massol Dey谩 acknowledges that people wanted to be helped by their fellow townspeople. 鈥淭hey discovered soon that the true meaning of 鈥榡ust recovery鈥� is that the resources end up providing services that change the reality of constant vulnerability,鈥� he said.

鈥淓nergy is the ability to do work,鈥� Massol Dey谩 said. 鈥淲e are putting the opportunity in the hands of the people; we want them to acquire the power to govern themselves and enjoy their production. It is the maximum self-decolonization scenario because the top-down model has collapsed. … it is not effective.鈥�

An upcoming Casa Pueblo project, in collaboration with professors at the University of Michigan, will be to use . The energy produced will be used to power the coffee plantation to improve the harvest. The technique, Massol said, helps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Meanwhile, it will generate employment and provide a more sustainable life for the residents of Adjuntas.

All these grassroots actions are becoming the backbone of survival in Puerto Rico. For the time being, however, the lives of those residing in earthquake zones are stagnant, said Edward Santiago-Pacheco, a U.S. Army veteran and father of a newborn girl.

He lost his newly purchased house in Yauco in the 6.4 magnitude earthquake and has not heard back from the insurance company, the bank, or any local government agency.

鈥淚t is hard to overcome this when you just brought a new life into this world,鈥� Santiago-Pacheco said. 鈥淔EMA only provided money for two months of rent for temporary housing, but I still must pay my house mortgage. The worst part is that the local government is using our pain in favor of their political propaganda.鈥�

On Feb. 10, the Solidarity Brigade learned about Hern谩ndez鈥檚 and Santiago-Pacheco鈥檚 cases and reached out to them, Amauri said. However, thousands need similar help.

鈥淭wo of our members are sociologists (Roberto V茅lez and Jacqueline Villegas), and they developed a census to identify all necessities and help people the best possible way. But we need the government to publish relevant information that can help us organize our strategy,鈥� he added.