Puerto Rico faces dire shortages as recovery continues

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON

A week after the worst hurricane in 90 years devastated much of Puerto Rico, millions are still struggling to receive basic services.

Officials on the U.S. territory are urging American authorities to provide badly needed supplies, including food and water, after Hurricane Maria made landfall as a Category 5 storm.

Governor Ricardo Rossello acknowledged Wednesday 97 percent of residents still lack power.

About half the island's residents lack running water, Rossello said, according to CNN.

More than 3,000 U.S. National Guard members are responding to the crisis, and FEMA, the U.S. disaster management agency, said it has 10 search and rescue teams on the ground in Puerto Rico.

In addition to assisting in recovery efforts, FEMA teams are "conducting operational assessments of hospitals", the agency said on Twitter.

Like much of the island, many medical centers lack power and are faced with fuel shortages that make powering life-saving equipment difficult if not impossible in some cases.

FEMA spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said on the microblogging site the agency is delivering food and water at 13 city halls with more to open as areas become accessible.

Senator John McCain urged the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday to issue a waiver for the Jones Act, a 1920 law he called "archaic and burdensome", that limits commerce between U.S. ports to U.S.-flagged vessels.

Puerto Rico falls under the act due to its status as a U.S. territory.

Waivers were issued in the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which devastated wide swathes of Texas and Florida.

Under congressional questioning, DHS acting secretary Elaine Duke denied any official request for a waiver for Puerto Rico had been received.

Her department later said in an email to Anadolu Agency that after consulting with other federal agencies, it has determined there are a sufficient number of U.S.-flagged vessels to get supplies to Puerto Rico, but said the problem with dispersing aid stems from badly damaged infrastructure on the island.

"After Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the rationale for a Jones Act waiver was to facilitate movement of petroleum to numerous places along the east coast, and making up for the loss of very high capacity pipelines. The situation in Puerto Rico is much different," spokesman David Lapan said in an email.

In particular, the agency pointed to damage to the island's transportation networks that has hindered the distribution of fuel to the places that need it.

"We do not lack U.S.-flagged vessel capacity to move commodities to Puerto Rico, and restrictions on port operations and slowdowns at the port (e.g., cranes operating on generators are moving at half speed), and the above mentioned internal movement of goods, will be the primary limiting factors," Lapan added.

Still, the mayor of San Juan said in an emotional television interview that any time devoted to cutting through bureaucratic hurdles is hindering badly-needed humanitarian relief.

“I know that leaders aren’t supposed to cry, and especially not on TV, but we are having a humanitarian crisis," Yulin Cruz said while breaking down into tears. “It’s life or death; every moment we spend planning in a meeting or every moment we spend just not getting the help we’re supposed to get, people are starting to die.”

The Pentagon confirmed it is shifting its operations from a short-term effort based at sea to a longer-term, more robust land-based mission, and that Army General Rich Kim is deploying to the island Wednesday to coordinate relief efforts.

Multiple Pentagon teams are working to deliver fuel and clear roads of storm-related debris, it said, noting that 59 of 69 hospitals are operational, but have unknown statuses.