Hurricanes Jose, Katia, and Maria

[GreyhoundFan]

@candygirl200413 -- This is an initiative by the first lady of Puerto Rico.

 

How much more do folks have to take? "New earthquake, magnitude 6.1, shakes jittery Mexico"

Spoiler

MEXICO CITY — A strong new earthquake shook Mexico on Saturday, toppling already damaged homes and a highway bridge and causing new alarm in a country reeling from two even more powerful quakes this month that together have killed nearly 400 people.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the new, magnitude 6.1 temblor was centered about 11 miles (18 kilometers) south-southeast of Matias Romero in the state of Oaxaca, which was the region most battered by a magnitude 8.1 quake on Sept. 7.

It was among thousands of aftershocks recorded in the wake of that earlier quake, which was the most powerful to hit Mexico in 32 years and killed at least 90 people.

There was some damage in Oaxaca but no immediate reports of new deaths. The Federal Police agency posted images online showing a collapsed bridge that it said had already been closed due to damage after the Sept. 7 quake.

Bettina Cruz, a resident of Juchitan, Oaxaca, said by phone with her voice still shaking that the new quake felt “horrible.”

“Homes that were still standing just fell down,” Cruz said. “It’s hard. We are all in the streets.”

Cruz belongs to a social collective and said that when the shaking began, she was riding in a truck carrying supplies to victims of the earlier quake.

Nataniel Hernandez said by phone from Tonala, in the southern state of Chiapas, which was also hit hard by the earlier quake, that it was one of the strongest aftershocks he has felt.

“Since Sept. 7 it has not stopped shaking,” Hernandez.

U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Paul Caruso said the new temblor was an aftershock of the 8.1 quake, and after a jolt of that size even buildings left standing can be more vulnerable.

“So a smaller earthquake can cause the damaged buildings to fail,” Caruso said.

“At the moment the greatest damage has been to the Ixtaltepec bridge, which should be rebuilt, and structures with previous damage that collapsed,” President Enrique Pena Nieto tweeted. He said government workers were fanning out in Juchitan to provide help to anyone who needs it.

Jaime Hernandez, director of the Federal Electrical Commission, said the quake knocked out power to 327,000 homes and businesses in Oaxaca but service had been restored to 72 percent of customers within a few hours.

Buildings swayed in Mexico City, where nerves are still raw from Tuesday’s magnitude 7.1 temblor that has killed at least 305 across the region. Many residents and visitors fled homes, hotels and businesses, some in tears.

At the Xoco General Hospital, which is treating the largest number of quake victims, workers ordered visitors to evacuate when seismic alarms began to blare.

That included Syntia Pereda, 43, who was reluctant to leave the bedside of her sleeping boyfriend. Jesus Gonzalez, 49, fell from a third-story balcony of a building where he was working during Tuesday’s quake and was awaiting surgery.

But she controlled her emotions, went outside and came back when the trembling was over.

“We are getting used to this,” Pereda said. “Every so often we hear the alarm ... you say, well, it is God’s will.”

Alejandra Castellanos was on the second floor of a hotel in a central neighborhood of Mexico City and ran down the stairs and outside with her husband.

“I was frightened because I thought, not again!” Castellanos said.

Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said there were no reports of significant new damage in the capital, and rescue efforts related to Tuesday’s quake were continuing. He reported that two people died of apparent heart attacks during the new temblor.

At the site of an office building that collapsed Tuesday and where an around-the-clock search for survivors was still ongoing, rescuers briefly evacuated from atop the pile of rubble after the morning quake before returning to work removing cement, tiles and other debris.

As rescue operations stretched into Day 5, residents throughout the capital have held out hope that dozens still missing might be found alive. More than half the dead — 167 — perished in the capital, while another 73 died in the state of Morelos, 45 in Puebla, 13 in Mexico State, six in Guerrero and one in Oaxaca.

Along a 60-foot stretch of a bike lane in Mexico City, families huddled under tarps and donated blankets, awaiting word of loved ones trapped in the four-story-high pile of rubble behind them.

Lidia Albarran, whose niece was buried in the collapse of an office building a block away, heard the alarm and worried that the latest quake could endanger those under the pile of rubble.

“You feel fear. Before, earthquakes did not make me afraid, but now ... thinking about all that could have happened in the building,” Albarran said.

In a city still on edge, many residents have spoken of lingering anxiety: imagining the ground is moving when it isn’t, hearing a police siren wail and thinking it’s a quake alarm, breaking into sobs at unexpected moments.

“There is collective panic. I feel afraid even when a car passes by,” said Dulce Bueno, who came Saturday morning with her husband and daughter to the hard-hit Condesa neighborhood. They brought suitcases to collect the belongings of their daughter, who lived in a damaged building beside one that collapsed and who is now moving in with them.

“They have told us it is well constructed, that it’s a bunker,” Bueno said of her own home. “But if the tremors continue, will it hold up?”

Vicente Aparicio, 76, gazed at the building where he lived in southern Mexico City as his wife listened to an engineer explaining the damage it had suffered. He vowed never to return; his family is fortunate enough to have another apartment to go to and the means to go on with their lives.

“But what about those who do not?” Aparicio wondered.

He added: “How does a city recover from a shock like this?”

 

[fraurosena]

4 hours ago, Destiny said:

I'm beyond fucking pissed, and what's sad is no one is covering PR, so no one is gonna call him out for it. 

@Destiny, I'm sending good thoughts your way, and hope your loved ones in PR are doing ok!

I've seen that MSNBC's Rachel Maddow has been covering what's happening in PR, and commenting they desperately need help. However, I haven't heard her say anything about the presidunce directly in this regard. She has been saying FEMA hardly has any budget left after Harvey and Irma, and desperately needs more funding.

I can't fathom why everybody on the Hill or in the administration is seemingly looking the other way when their fellow Americans, their fellow human beings, are in such dire circumstances. 

In my country, whenever there is a natural disaster on a grand scale anywhere in the world, a national banknumber (555) is opened so you can donate. That money will be divided amongst different charities, both international (like the Red Cross) and local. When a disaster is exeptionally devastating, it's not uncommon for special televised charity drives to be held with most Dutch broadcasters, be they public or private, participating. Do you have anything like that in America? Or is it 'everybody fend for themselves and fuck the rest' ?

 

[fraurosena]

@Destiny, I just came across this tweet. There's a lively discussion in the comments I think you would like to read.

 

[GrumpyGran]

5 hours ago, fraurosena said:

@Destiny, I just came across this tweet. There's a lively discussion in the comments I think you would like to read.

 

Reading this made me so angry and I was already pissed. Our fucking president is busy playing golf and insulting people on Twitter while American citizens' lives are at stake. Where is the visit, the military coming in to help? Why isn't he tweeting about efforts to help these Americans? 

Of course I know the answer but this is a new low for him. He is the biggest hypocrite in the country and that's saying a lot. I hope every American of Puerto Rican descent living in this country remembers this on election day in 2018. Republicans do not care about you and your families and the last three days have proved it.

[Destiny]

[mention=11277]Destiny[/mention], I just came across this tweet. There's a lively discussion in the comments I think you would like to read.
 

I’m already one of the many posters in that thread lol. I’m watching FB and Twitter very closely for news since the regular news isn’t doing much.

[Destiny]

Does anyone have any organizations that aren't red cross to send money?! It's killing me also that NO ONE is talking about how they have to live for half a year without power and America isn't doing shit cause they don't care.

I sent money here:

http://unidosporpuertorico.com

I’m sure there are other places but I went with this one because First Lady.

I know America is doing stuff to help. My anger is more the lack of attention from media and the fucking orange menace picking fights with the nfl while this shit is happening.

[GrumpyGran]

Hoping you get some news soon, @Destiny.

[candygirl200413]

Thank you, both @GreyhoundFan and @Destiny! I'm about to donate very shortly. I remember hearing fuckface is trying to go and I'm just like can ANYONE stop him from going?

I was also reading about something called the Jones Act which has been hurting in relief efforts but to be honest I still kind of don't understand what it does.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/aid-begins-flow-hurricane-hit-puerto-rico-50055774

[AuntK]

I'm not absolutely sure that the Orange monster knows that Puerto Ricans are American citizens, not that it would matter to him anyway. They are brown people.  I think it is one of the many facts like the existence of the Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale that he does not know.

And btw, why don't they get to vote for president?

 

[Destiny]

46 minutes ago, candygirl200413 said:

I was also reading about something called the Jones Act which has been hurting in relief efforts but to be honest I still kind of don't understand what it does.http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/aid-begins-flow-hurricane-hit-puerto-rico-50055774 

 

Tl;dr the jones act says that everything that’s shipped between US ports has to be in US ships. That causes higher prices and delays because there’s only like 100 or something ships that meet the criteria. It fucks Hawaii too. If you google Jones Act there’s a good article out in why it’s fucking PR in particular. I am on my phone so I don’t have it handy.

They don’t get to vote for president because of a Supreme Court decision from eleventy years ago that basically says that the Constitution doesn’t apply (but with bonus racist language!). They also have no representation in congress, other than non voting delegate.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/us-election-island-territories-1.3840319

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/03/09/john-oliver-on-why-u-s-territories-dont-have-full-voting-rights/

https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-11-01/millions-americans-cant-vote-president-because-where-they-live

It makes no fucking sense and bugs the crap out of me. I can talk for hours about how much we fuck over PR.

 

Edit: sorry about no quotes but they are a real pain in the ass on tapa@auntk

[Destiny]

I warned you guys. Start me on this issue and you won't shut me up. I found a good link on the Jones Act for you @candygirl200413:

http://www.grassrootinstitute.org/2017/04/the-jones-act-in-perspective/

[BecauseScience]

My husband heard from his friend with family in PR this morning that they are doing ok.  He said that Delta has been flying in goods and medical assistance.  Also, people have been reporting out by ham radio--another friend  who used to work at the observatory who has heard from them by ham radio. @Destiny I hope your friend can find a ham radio operator.

Sounds like I should add calls to my rep about repealing the Jones Act amidst calls to my senators about health care. My rep is a Dem--will probably be more productive than berating Cruz and Cornyn.

Thanks for the heads up about Unidos por Puerto Rico.  There's been lots of complaints about the Red Cross here, so thanks for providing knowledge of a better charity. 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Hot, isolated, and running out of supplies, parts of Puerto Rico near desperation"

Spoiler

JUNCOS, Puerto Rico — In the heat and humidity here in the central mountains, Meryanne Aldea fanned her bedridden mother with a piece of cardboard Sunday as the ailing woman lay on her side, relieving a large ulcer in her back.

The 63-year-old mother, Maria Dolores Hernandez, had cotton stuffed in her ears to keep flies out, since her now screenless windows were letting all sorts of bugs in. The gray-haired diabetic woman spoke with her daughter about her worries: that she would run out of prescription drugs, that they were almost out of generator fuel to keep her insulin refrigerated and to run the fans at night. With all the heat, she feared that her ulcer would become infected.

But she worried most about her daughter’s home on the floor above hers, which was destroyed by Hurricane Maria. The shrieking winds had ripped off the zinc roof and the pounding rains had soaked the unprotected rooms below. While the outer concrete walls were mostly intact, everything else was ruined, covered by dirty tree branches, leaves, glass and debris.

Aldea reached out to hold her mother’s hand.

“Relax,” she said. “It’s okay.”

Four days after a major hurricane battered Puerto Rico, leaving the entire island in a communications and power blackout, regions outside San Juan remained disconnected from the rest of the island — and the world. Juncos, in a mountainous region southeast of the capital that was slammed with Maria’s most powerful winds, remains isolated, alone, afraid.

For many residents, the challenge of accessing the essentials of modern life — gasoline, cash, food, water — began to sink in. And government officials had no answers for them. Estimates for the return of electricity and basic services will be measured not in days but in weeks and months. For those most vulnerable, far too long.

Many have been openly wondering when help will arrive, whether from local officials or from the federal government. The first thing some villagers ask when they see outsiders: “Are you FEMA?”

For federal agencies trying to respond to Maria, the situation in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands is inescapably more challenging than the situations in Texas and Florida after hurricanes Harvey and Irma. It’s difficult to get onto the islands.

The airports and harbors here were severely damaged. That means the islands are more isolated than ever, even as the humanitarian crisis has worsened by the day.

So although massive amounts of food, water, fuel and other supplies have been dispatched by federal agencies and private organizations, with more resources on the way, this has been an obstacle-filled process.

Federal agencies have succeeded in clearing the use of the Port of San Juan for daytime operations, but other ports remain closed pending inspections. Many roads are blocked, inhibiting relief convoys. The Transportation Department has opened five airports in Puerto Rico and two in the U.S. Virgin Islands, but only for military and relief efforts.

Six commercial cargo ships have delivered supplies including food, water and generators to the Caribbean islands, and more supplies are on the way by ship from Florida and by air from Florida and Kentucky. Among the provisions: The Defense Logistics Agency is sending 124,000 gallons of diesel fuel to Puerto Rico.

In addition to concerns about basic survival, on the west side of the island worries have intensified about a ruptured dam that has been tenuously holding back the waters of Lake Guajataca. Government officials said Sunday that the “fissure” in the dam is “large and will collapse at any time.” Throngs of residents in nearby towns have been urged to evacuate. The dam’s failure could lead to massive amounts of water flowing unabated through coastal communities.

In Juncos, scores of homes were destroyed, and thousands of homes sustained damage, Mayor Alfredo Alejandro estimated. Four highways are inaccessible by car, and two bridges were harmed. Roofs of homes all over town are gone, and almost all government buildings were damaged.

Mountains typically brimming with trees and other vegetation are brown and desolate, stripped of all greenery. The mayor of 17 years said he discovered a river he never knew existed in his town, because it was always overgrown with plants. Curved bamboo lining the winding roads were left as bare sticks.

Less than a week ago, Alejandro said, “I had a pretty town.”

“Today I have a desert,” he said.

Puerto Rico’s executive director of emergency management said in an interview that aerial views of destruction in this region looked “more like a tornado than a hurricane.”

But Maria’s destruction in the town was just the beginning. The mayor said Juncos “anxiously” needs diesel, water, hospital equipment and satellite phones for local leadership. Some local responders were forced to clear streets by hand with machetes, because the town doesn’t have enough chain saws.

Just two gas stations were functioning in the town, and lines stretched for more than half a mile. Some drivers camped out in their cars at one station on Saturday night, but awoke Sunday to find out the gasoline there had run out, one resident said. Some people walked and rode bicycles for miles with empty gas canisters in hand.

One of the town’s two supermarkets was open Sunday, and employees would let in only 10 people at a time to avoid chaos. Residents, who stood in line for hours, could purchase only rationed food. There is no functioning bank or cash machine in the entire municipality.

When Aldea, 37, and her 5-year-old daughter walked through her shell of a home in Juncos after the hurricane had passed, the child hardly said a word. She scoured her pink room, with pony stickers on its walls, and picked out a couple of soaked dolls and coloring books.

“We don’t have a house anymore,” Aldea explained to her daughter, Darangellie. “We’re going to have to start new with what we have.”

Aldea, who works as a secretary in the mayor’s office, is living with and taking care of her mother in the tiny room downstairs. Darangellie spends most of the days with a relative in town, but at night she sleeps with her mother. The child has asthma and needs to use a daily nebulizer treatment — requiring her mother to turn on their generator at night. They have enough diesel to power the generator for one more day.

She has a half-tank of gas left and can’t set aside the entire day that would be necessary to wait in line for more because she has to care for her daughter and mother. It doesn’t help that driving to town for her job — which usually takes seven minutes — now takes more than a half-hour because of blocked or inaccessible roads.

But Aldea remained calm. More than anything, she is thankful to be alive: “If I don’t stay strong, how can I take care of the two people who depend on me?”

Across town, a second-level three-bedroom apartment was ripped to shreds, the cooking appliances, kitchen counters and cabinets the only surviving evidence of the wooden structure.

Maribel Quiñones Rivera, 53, lived with her husband in the home for decades, raising her children and grandchildren there. During the hurricane and in the days that followed, she sought shelter with relatives in their apartment directly below.

On Sunday, she still hadn’t walked upstairs to see the debris up close. When asked why, she shook her head and cried. “I can’t,” she said.

To make matters worse, Quiñones Rivera and her relatives are out of cash — they used their last $30 to buy gasoline. They have five or six bottles of water left.

There are some moments of hope amid the misery in Juncos. On Sunday, about 30 people gathered in a small blue church for Mass. The priest apologized for the lack of a microphone and said the service would be brief.

Aida Sanchez, a member of the congregation, said she came to thank God.

“Because despite the circumstances,” she said, “we’re alive.”

The level of despair is sobering.

[GreyhoundFan]

 

The Miami Herald published this informative article for those trying to reach loved ones in Puerto Rico.

[MarblesMom]

This is so heart breaking and hard to read.  

May the Toddler get off his wide ass and get some help for the brown Americans he is ignoring.

[Destiny]

Sadly, I've read all of these. It doesn't help my fear any, but I can't stop. 

[Cartmann99]

I hate this. I've been reading news stories about Puerto Rico and I just want to cry and throw things. People are in desperate straits while Trump posts on Twitter and preens in front of the nearest camera. 

The five living former presidents have formed an organization to help with relief efforts for all victims of the recent hurricanes. You can designate that your donation be directed to a particular hurricane relief effort if you so desire:

https://www.oneamericaappeal.org

 

 

[Destiny]

I'm beyond pissed, but I'm glad that the media is finally caring. My oldest, who, to my eternal shame, was a trumper (I KNOW!), came home from work today and wandered into my room to ask this (fucks in original):

Does Trump actually fucking know that Puerto Ricans are fucking Americans? FUCK! This is not ok. Can we just impeach the dumb motherfucker already?

because he's so god damned pissed off about how badly this situation is being handled.

Unrelated: This guy is a good follow for PR:

https://twitter.com/DavidBegnaud

He's completely out of fucks to give, and it's great.

[GreyhoundFan]

@Destiny -- I'm glad Destiny Jr. is now seeing the orange menace for what he really is. And, yes, David Begnaud is a great reporter. I usually watch CBS' morning program and he does a good job.

[candygirl200413]

Thank you for the Jones explanation @Destiny. Especially reading how he refuses to wave it for PR aid and now they have to wait what will definitely seem like an eternity.

Also some happy times:

Pitbull praised for Puerto Rico jet loan

Mark Cuban Loaned Mavericks Plane to J.J. Barea for Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief

Royal Caribbean using cruise ship to help evacuate people from Puerto Rico

 

[GreyhoundFan]

This is an interesting perspective: "The Puerto Ricans are coming"

Spoiler

In the wake of Hurricane Maria, a vast internal migration of U.S. citizens is likely in the months ahead, as tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans, possibly 1 million or more over time, choose to move to the U.S. mainland. If this migration occurs, it will be an additional, slow-motion disaster inflicted on an island that can ill afford to lose any more of its best and brightest. As the federal government considers how robustly to respond to Maria, it should keep in mind the need to avoid compounding the already catastrophic damage the island has suffered.

The storm destroyed Puerto Rico’s fragile power grid. Estimates suggest that power may not be fully restored for many months. If this is so, Puerto Rico’s already struggling economy will be crippled for years, trapping more than 3 million of our fellow citizens in an economic nightmare. Maria damaged dams, bridges and roads, demolished homes and businesses, and wiped out much of Puerto Rico’s admired greenery.

Puerto Rico, of course, is hardly alone in suffering hurricane damage, and the federal government must continue its recovery programs in Texas and Florida. But as an isolated island with no power and little communication, it is experiencing a dire crisis. Should basic services fail to return soon, social and economic disorder will prompt willing and able Puerto Ricans to seek temporary, or possibly permanent, refuge among friends and relatives already living on the mainland. They are likely to choose warm-weather localities that are familiar, hospitable and welcoming, such as Texas and Florida, currently confronting their own natural-disaster recovery. About 1 million Puerto Ricans already live in the Sunshine State, and Puerto Ricans are projected to soon pass Cubans as the largest group of Latinos in the state.

Any such migration can only accelerate and deepen the social and economic crisis in Puerto Rico. This is because it will consist in large measure of the educated and professional middle classes — those who came to maturity in the past five decades as a result of the island’s justly celebrated program of economic development and modernization. Large numbers of Puerto Rican medical doctors, engineers and teachers have already left the financially strapped island for Texas, Florida and other states.

Until the 1940s, Puerto Rico was a desperately poor agrarian society, an embarrassment to an American empire whose armed forces had seized the island from Spain during the Spanish-American War of 1898, promising Puerto Ricans “the advantages and blessings of our enlightened civilization.” By 1917, the people of Puerto Rico had become U.S. citizens with an elected bicameral legislature and a governor appointed by the president. Puerto Ricans have elected their own governor since 1948, and their 1952 commonwealth constitution resembles in most respects the basic law of an American state, except that Puerto Rico’s more than 3 million American citizens have no voting representation in Congress.

The Puerto Rican constitution represents the faith that Puerto Ricans placed in the American project. In the 1950s and ’60s — when many of its Spanish-speaking neighbors flirted with or turned to Marxism — Puerto Rico embraced democratic self-government, tax and labor policies specially tailored by a sympathetic Congress, and free-market economics. It became an exemplar of how a colonial people under the American flag could lift itself from poverty without communist depredations.

Of course, all Puerto Ricans are deeply conscious that the island’s subordinate political status has made them unusual U.S. citizens. Nonetheless, Puerto Ricans know that they are entitled to the protection of the United States and that they are free to move to the continental United States and — in the words of a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court — become “residents of any State there to enjoy every right of any other citizen of the United States, civil, social and political.”

The freedom to travel is a fundamental constitutional right, and citizens in Puerto Rico are free to exercise it. But as lawmakers consider a new round of disaster relief funding next month, they should keep in mind: The damage of a hurricane can be repaired only after the fact. The damage of large outward migration can be prevented, at least in part, by assuring Puerto Ricans that they will have a promising future at home.

I am just worried that Puerto Rico will never really recover, especially if so many residents leave.

[Howl]

The situation in Puerto Rico has devolved into a  perfect storm for mosquito and water-borne illnesses.  The heart of every American should be breaking. 

[Destiny]

The situation in Puerto Rico has devolved into a  perfect storm for mosquito and water-borne illnesses.  The heart of every American should be breaking. 

I’m just glad that Americans are CARING at this point. We’ve been failing these people for so long, and this clusterfuck is just an extension of that.
I still haven’t heard from the rest of my friends yet, or BFF since Saturday. I was able to see from Facebook that water was delivered to their town though, so that’s good.

[GrumpyGran]

12 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

This is an interesting perspective: "The Puerto Ricans are coming"

  Reveal hidden contents

In the wake of Hurricane Maria, a vast internal migration of U.S. citizens is likely in the months ahead, as tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans, possibly 1 million or more over time, choose to move to the U.S. mainland. If this migration occurs, it will be an additional, slow-motion disaster inflicted on an island that can ill afford to lose any more of its best and brightest. As the federal government considers how robustly to respond to Maria, it should keep in mind the need to avoid compounding the already catastrophic damage the island has suffered.

The storm destroyed Puerto Rico’s fragile power grid. Estimates suggest that power may not be fully restored for many months. If this is so, Puerto Rico’s already struggling economy will be crippled for years, trapping more than 3 million of our fellow citizens in an economic nightmare. Maria damaged dams, bridges and roads, demolished homes and businesses, and wiped out much of Puerto Rico’s admired greenery.

Puerto Rico, of course, is hardly alone in suffering hurricane damage, and the federal government must continue its recovery programs in Texas and Florida. But as an isolated island with no power and little communication, it is experiencing a dire crisis. Should basic services fail to return soon, social and economic disorder will prompt willing and able Puerto Ricans to seek temporary, or possibly permanent, refuge among friends and relatives already living on the mainland. They are likely to choose warm-weather localities that are familiar, hospitable and welcoming, such as Texas and Florida, currently confronting their own natural-disaster recovery. About 1 million Puerto Ricans already live in the Sunshine State, and Puerto Ricans are projected to soon pass Cubans as the largest group of Latinos in the state.

Any such migration can only accelerate and deepen the social and economic crisis in Puerto Rico. This is because it will consist in large measure of the educated and professional middle classes — those who came to maturity in the past five decades as a result of the island’s justly celebrated program of economic development and modernization. Large numbers of Puerto Rican medical doctors, engineers and teachers have already left the financially strapped island for Texas, Florida and other states.

Until the 1940s, Puerto Rico was a desperately poor agrarian society, an embarrassment to an American empire whose armed forces had seized the island from Spain during the Spanish-American War of 1898, promising Puerto Ricans “the advantages and blessings of our enlightened civilization.” By 1917, the people of Puerto Rico had become U.S. citizens with an elected bicameral legislature and a governor appointed by the president. Puerto Ricans have elected their own governor since 1948, and their 1952 commonwealth constitution resembles in most respects the basic law of an American state, except that Puerto Rico’s more than 3 million American citizens have no voting representation in Congress.

The Puerto Rican constitution represents the faith that Puerto Ricans placed in the American project. In the 1950s and ’60s — when many of its Spanish-speaking neighbors flirted with or turned to Marxism — Puerto Rico embraced democratic self-government, tax and labor policies specially tailored by a sympathetic Congress, and free-market economics. It became an exemplar of how a colonial people under the American flag could lift itself from poverty without communist depredations.

Of course, all Puerto Ricans are deeply conscious that the island’s subordinate political status has made them unusual U.S. citizens. Nonetheless, Puerto Ricans know that they are entitled to the protection of the United States and that they are free to move to the continental United States and — in the words of a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court — become “residents of any State there to enjoy every right of any other citizen of the United States, civil, social and political.”

The freedom to travel is a fundamental constitutional right, and citizens in Puerto Rico are free to exercise it. But as lawmakers consider a new round of disaster relief funding next month, they should keep in mind: The damage of a hurricane can be repaired only after the fact. The damage of large outward migration can be prevented, at least in part, by assuring Puerto Ricans that they will have a promising future at home.

I am just worried that Puerto Rico will never really recover, especially if so many residents leave.

A very tough situation if you are a Puerto Rican. Do you try to stay, knowing what's coming? Or do you choose the safest option and leave, going to friends or family you have on the mainland and start over? The island will recover but it will take years and big business will come in and take advantage of the cheap land when some of the residents leave. It will be a different place, for certain.

It seems like some companies are waking up to the huge public relations fiasco they may face if they don't contribute. But it's still much later than it should have been.

I love Begnaud but OMG, those tight pants! 

[JMarie]

HILLARY WOULD HAVE HANDLED THIS SITUATION PROPERLY!!!!    (boy, that felt good!)

Whenever some stupid Conservative sputters on about Benghazi or emails, I'm going to respond with "what about Puerto Rico?"  That'll shut them up.