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Puerto Rico Recovery

Good Essays

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico as the strongest hurricane in more than 80 years. Due to its strong Category 4 winds and heavy flooding, Maria destroyed homes, roads, bridges and other essential infrastructure, and severely limited access to drinkable water and communications. The storm was also responsible for knocking out power to the entire island. (Concepcion-Acevedo, et al, 2018)
According to FEMA’s Public Affairs Office, the first steps towards recovery took place prior to the arrival of the storm. They state that on August 25, 2017, FEMA’s National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) was fully activated to a Level I with all emergency support functions operational, including Department of Defense (DoD) liaisons …show more content…

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) transported 124,000 gallons of diesel fuel to Puerto Rico as apparently although many agencies and private businesses had generators, there was no access to fuel. Six days later, multiple military aircraft arrived on the scene, delivering water and meals, helicopters, communications equipment, additional security forces, and communications and contingency response units By the beginning of October, the USNS Comfort, a medical vessel, arrived in Puerto Rico with 800 medical personnel and support staff .U.S. Northern Command, which is tasked with homeland defense and civil support operations within the United States, …show more content…

G., Ruiz, R. I., Arbolay, H. R., . . . O’Neill, E. (2018, March 23). Initial Public Health Laboratory Response After Hurricane Maria — Puerto Rico, 2017. Retrieved May 20, 2018, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5868205/
FEMA. (2017). Hurricane Maria Federal Response Timeline. Retrieved May 20, 2018, from https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/images/150648
FEMA. (2018, March 16). Six Months After Maria: Progress Made, Work Continues. Retrieved May 20, 2018, from https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2018/03/16/six-months-after-maria-progress-made-work-continues#

Graham, D. A. (2017, September 28). Is the Jones Act Waiver All Politics? Retrieved May 20, 2018, from https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/09/jones-act-waiver-puerto-rico-trump/541398/

Lamothe, D. (2017, October 04). The new general in Puerto Rico details his plan to speed relief as more troops arrive. Retrieved May 20, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/10/04/as-puerto-rico-relief-expands-the-military-will-set-up-numerous-hospitals-general-says/?utm_term=.4c039f4487b1

National Council for Prescription Drug Programs Foundation. Healthcare ready: Rx open. Washington, DC: National Council for Prescription Drug Programs Foundation; 2017.

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