Trump and his administration including FEMA were slow and incompetent in providing aid to Puerto Rico during hurricane disasters.
By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
September 13, 2018
On Thursday, President Trump disputed Puerto Rico's death toll of nearly 3K after he and his administration were being blamed for the slow and incompetent FEMA aid response to the island and Trump tweeted that between 6 to 18 people died during and after several Hurricanes struck Puerto Rico including Hurricane Maria. Trump's Thursday tweets, "3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000...This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!"
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz in response tweeted, "Damn it: this is NOT about politics this was always about SAVING LIVES...Simply put: delusional, paranoid, and unhinged from any sense of reality. Trump is so vain he thinks this is about him. NO IT IS NOT...Mr Trump you can try and bully us with your tweets BUT WE KNOW OUR LIVES MATTER. You will never take away our self respect. Shame on you!...This is what denial following neglect looks like: Mr Pres in the real world people died on your watch. YOUR LACK OF RESPECT IS APPALLING!"
Mayor Cruz told Anderson Cooper from CNN that Puerto Rican families filed 2,471 applications with FEMA for funeral assistance last month, but FEMA has only approved 71 of those applications for funeral assistance. At least Trump should acknowledge that 2,471 deaths were attributed to the aftermath of several Hurricanes including Maria, according to Cruz.
It was also reported that U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) obtained a government document and told Rachel Maddow on MSNBC that the Trump administration and DHS took $9.8M out of FEMA's budget ahead of the 2018 hurricane season to fund ICE detention and deportation programs for undocumented immigrants.
Ricardo Rossello, Governor of Puerto Rico on Thursday stated in a Facebook (FB) video post on his account that he stands with the independent study of the 2,975 death toll in Puerto Rico and released a press release. Rossello also explained that 20,000 pallets of bottled water left untouched on an airport runway in Ceiba belonged to FEMA who failed to adequately distribute the excess water to those in need after Hurricane Maria struck. FB video: https://bit.ly/2NInLxA
Marty Bahamonde, the director of disaster operations for FEMA’s Office of External Affairs, told CBS that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Ceiba, Puerto Rico moved the bottled water outdoors in January as a cost-cutting measure, which the hot weather conditions destroyed the water. The 20,000 pallets of bottled water became undrinkable after being left in the heat and sun outside for months and FEMA took responsibility for its spoilage. Ottmar Chávez, head of Puerto Rico’s General Services Administration (ASG) says that 700 pallets of water had been distributed in May, but complaints were raised that the water was smelly and had a bad taste.
FEMA says, that the bottled water was stored in 1,110 containers and cost $300K per day to store, according to the Huffpost.
FEMA says, that the bottled water was stored in 1,110 containers and cost $300K per day to store, according to the Huffpost.
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