Hurricane Fiona Exposes More Than Crumbling Infrastructure in Puerto Rico
By: Anna-Michelle Marie McSorley, PhD, MPH
Hurricane Fiona is the latest natural disaster to strike Puerto Rico, which has been a territory of the United States (U.S.) since 1898 [1]. While this storm has substantially and uniquely devastated the archipelago’s infrastructure, Fiona made landfall within a territory that has recently been navigating a multitude of consecutive natural disasters amidst a historically complex socio-political context; one that has been over a century in the making. This blog provides details on the events of Hurricane Fiona, background on Puerto Rico’s territorial status, and resources for how you can help Puerto Rican recovery efforts.
The Natural Disaster
Hurricane Fiona and the Aftermath in Puerto Rico
Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 18, 2022 [2]. Although a seemingly less severe category-1 hurricane compared to Hurricanes Irma (category-5) and Maria (category-4), which wreaked havoc in Puerto Rico in 2017 [3], Fiona’s forces still managed to dump as much as 30 inches of rain in some areas of Puerto Rico [4,5]. These torrential rains, coupled with the damage that remained from the prior hurricanes, led to mass flooding and decimated many parts of the already compromised infrastructure. This resulted in disruptions to water services and territory-wide power outages that left 3.2 million residents weathering the storm in the dark.
These interruptions in power and water services permeated across all sectors and contributed to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to declare a state of public health emergency in Puerto Rico [6]. Six days after the storm, over 37% of hospitals were still relying on unstable energy from generators as the restoration of power had only been confirmed for 94 of the 150 hospitals in Puerto Rico [7]. In some areas, the local health facilities had reopened, but flooding and landslides left people living in rural municipalities cutoff from the bridges and roads needed to access these facilities [8,9], which provide crucial medical treatment for pre-existing and hurricane-related ailments and injuries. Similarly, many residents continue to be unable to access other basic needs, such as food and bottled water, as well as the gasoline needed to power generators. Tragically, as residents continue to rely on candle-light and generator power, fires have increased, partially contributing to the estimated 16 hurricane-related deaths that have been reported, thus far [10].
More than a week later…
By Monday, September 26, 2022, over a week after the hurricane made landfall, data from the Puerto Rico Emergency Portal System managed by the Government of Puerto Rico, reported that over 41.5% (608,739/1,468,005) of customers were still without power and over 16% (212,439/1,327,740) of customers did not have water services [11,12]. Moreover, residents remain under a boil-water advisory [13], as water services are restored, and Puerto Ricans in the municipalities hardest hit by the storm are still largely without power. In Mayaguez, a municipality on the west coast of the main island, only 23% of customers had power restored to their homes as of 9/26/22 [7]. As Puerto Ricans move into the second week without these essential services, many residents can’t help but flashback to the events of Hurricane Maria and recall the poor federal response that left some Puerto Ricans living in the dark for as long as 9 months [14].
The Socio-Political Context
Puerto Rico is a U.S. Territory who’s 3.2 million residents are U.S. Citizens
The United States Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as it is named in the U.S. Constitution, became a territory after the Spanish-American War of 1898 [1]. This magnificent collection of islands and islets in the Caribbean, including the main island of Puerto Rico, and the smaller inhabited islands of Vieques and Culebra, are home to an estimated 3.2 million Puerto Ricans who predominantly speak Spanish. In 1917, Puerto Ricans residing within the territory were granted U.S. citizenship [15]. In 1952, Puerto Rico was granted self-governing commonwealth status by the U.S. Congress [16]. However, as neither a state nor a sovereign nation, Puerto Rico remains under U.S. constitutional control. Similarly, while Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, those residing in the territory cannot vote in U.S. federal elections and their congressional representatives do not have voting power in the U.S. Congress [17]. In this sense, Puerto Ricans have limited power to influence the federal government that they rely on for aid during natural disasters.
U.S. Government Response to Latest Natural Disaster
On September 22, 2022, President Biden, in his remarks on the Hurricane Fiona Recovery Efforts, assured the residents of Puerto Rico that the U.S. federal government would be there to help. President Biden guaranteed “100 percent funding for debris removal, search and rescue, power and water restoration, and shelter and food for the month.” [18] This is vital federal support needed for Puerto Rico to recover from this latest natural disaster. However, the long-term plan for investment in shoring up the archipelago’s infrastructure recovery is unclear. Again, Puerto Rican residents have limited political power to influence these federal response efforts but those of us in the States do have the ability to help in several ways.
How you can help…
Vote in the upcoming midterm elections on Tuesday, November 8, 2022
This year, all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the U.S. Senate will be contested. These seats represent the federal governing bodies that influence the socio-political context of the States and Puerto Rico. This November, exercise your right to vote in honor of those who do not have a voice in this upcoming election.
Visit vote.org to find your local polling place.
Donate to local community organizations in Puerto Rico
Fiona Community Response Fund - “The Fiona Community Response Fund is led by a coalition of community-led organizations working on immediate response to fulfill needs over the short- and long-term. It is a partnership of approximately 25 organizations.”
Taller Salud - “Taller Salud is a community-based feminist organization dedicated to improving women’s access to health care, to reducing violence within the community and to encourage economic growth through education and activism.”
Comedores Sociales - “Created in 2013, Comedores Sociales de Puerto Rico is a nonprofit organization that seeks to eradicate hunger in Puerto Rico through strategies of collective work and socialization of resources in favor of the majority of our people.”
Techos Pa’ Mi Gente - “A non-profit organization dedicated to the construction of decent roofs and the rehabilitation of homes in communities affected by natural disasters. It contributes to improving the quality of life of the individuals that make up these communities. Promotes self-management and provides training in basic construction skills to build resilience.”
Please note: Websites in Spanish can be translated to English using the translation function within the Google Chrome browser.
Dedication: He escrito este artículo en honor de las mujeres Puertorriqueñas que me criaron y que siempre me han amado con todo su corazón.
Translation: I have written this piece in honor of the Puerto Rican women who raised me and who have always loved me with all of their hearts.
About the Author: Dra. Anna-Michelle McSorley (she/ella) is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the New York University (NYU) School of Global Public Health within the Center for Anti-racism, Social Justice, and Public Health. She received her MPH and PhD from the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA. She is also a Faculty Affiliate of the UCLA Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice and Health and a Co-Founder of the Anti-Colonialism Collective. Dra. McSorley is a health inequities researcher who studies the social determinants of health that act upon the life chances of marginalized communities, with a particular focus on the Puerto Rican population living in the States and Puerto Rico. Although she is a Brooklyn-born Nuyorican, her formative years were shaped by her experiences living a back-and-forth life between New York City and Puerto Rico. Today, most of her extended family lives in Añasco, one of the coastal municipalities that was most impacted by Hurricane Fiona.
You can find Dra. McSorley at the virtual sessions of the Anti-Colonialism Collective Book Club on the last Tuesday of every month. To learn more about Dra. McSorley and her work, visit amcsorley.com.
Acknowledgements: Thank you to Chandra Ford, Minelle David, and the Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice and Health for welcoming this important commentary and for the mentorship I have received throughout the years. Also, a big thank you to Alexandra Rivera-González, MPH for her advocacy in Puerto Rico and for elevating the work of many of the community organizations that are listed in this piece.
