Abstract
Puerto Rico’s infrastructure collapsed when exposed to the forces of hurricane María. The event also changed the course of rivers, altered the topography of sectors of the island, flooded lowlands and parts of uplands, and the ocean surge changed beach profiles and collapsed structures built close to the ocean. Islanders were left without power, water, and communications, and without access to cash and government services such as health and protection. People resurrected a life style and survival techniques thought to have been left behind in a past already forgotten by many. Complex island topography, high population density and poverty compounded the difficulties faced by those participating in rescue missions. In the confusion, blunders abound, mortality was difficult to estimate, levels of anxiety increased, and the people lost confidence in their government.
As the pressure falls my transformation is launched.
Ascending, I spiral towards space, dragging battalion clouds in my wake.
You see the ocean’s tides, but the air’s flow is invisible.
It brings me my founding rains. And in my command they quench the earth.
All of nature is a balance, an ancient flux to which I add my weight.
The sun’s heat is captured by the sea, I reclaim it.
As do the thunderstorms that form and fade in the daily rhythm of the tropics.
But sometimes the forces of the distillery are overwhelming.
I will be no ordinary storm.
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Notes
- 1.
A month after the hurricane, 54% of the 72 AM and 70 FM radio stations were not operational.
- 2.
Five days after the hurricane, the government still had no contact or communications with six municipalities.
- 3.
The Commonwealth estimated that 124,600 million dollars would be required to recover the island’s economy after María.
- 4.
A house located blocks away from the ocean in the municipality of Naguabo was littered with seaweed (Sargasso) and marine debris, after the ocean surge inundated inside the house several feet deep.
- 5.
The US Army Corps of Engineers estimated a volume of 3.8 million cubic yards of which 2.28 million cubic yards was vegetation, including 45,000 logs with commercial value.
- 6.
The Commonwealth had, but did not use, a detailed region-by-region and agency-by-agency emergency plan for dealing with hurricanes, including the issue of reservoir collapse.
- 7.
Thousands of truck drivers were interviewed for jobs, but told to go home and wait to be called; a call that never happened or could not, given the poor communications at the time.
- 8.
The federal government transferred 1000 prisoners to the USA, while in Puerto Rico, 20-escaped prison after the hurricane.
- 9.
In an ad, the Maritime Industry indicates that 25 American ships supported by 1000 employees visit Puerto Rico every week.
- 10.
The government revised the death toll to 64, 181 days post María.
- 11.
Initially there were 26 treatment centers, later increased to 46 treating up to 6000 patients.
- 12.
On October 23, 2017, 217 people were listed as missing, a list that included all island sectors. On February 22, 2018, 946 people were reported missing for 2017, a situation causing stress to families in light of little official action to locate the missing (261 for which their location is unknown).
- 13.
Ascertainment of the estimated excess mortality from Hurricane María in Puerto Rico. Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University. 42 pages + 11 pages of annexes.
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Lugo, A.E. (2019). The Hurricanes of 2017: Pre-María and Immediate Social and Technological Effects. In: Social-Ecological-Technological Effects of Hurricane María on Puerto Rico. SpringerBriefs in Energy(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02387-4_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02387-4_2
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