Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Gov. Wanda Vázquez fired the heads of Puerto Rico’s housing and family departments Sunday in the latest fallout over the discovery of a warehouse filled with emergency supplies dating from Hurricane María.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — People in a southern Puerto Rico city discovered a warehouse filled with water, cots and other unused emergency supplies, then set off a social media uproar Saturday when they broke in to retrieve goods as the area struggles to recover from a strong earthquake.

“Our children are not safe. They [the DE] wants to rush through this process, and we don’t trust the government,” school parent Mely Román told Latino Rebels.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s government is opening public schools next week without knowing if they can withstand a big earthquake as concerns grow about weakened infrastructure that is displacing thousands of students.

La falta de transparencia del Departamento de Educación permea el proceso de las inspecciones luego de los temblores, tal como ocurrió con las revisiones que se hicieron después del huracán María.

PONCE, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Antonetti family sat in the shade of a tree eating orange slices while contemplating the long day ahead of them in a dusty parking lot in southern Puerto Rico.

Seismologists like me are constantly working to better understand earthquakes, including advancing ways to help vulnerable communities before, during and after damaging events.

What I do know is that —after everything we have been through— if candidates can’t be bothered to mention Puerto Rico during a debate, we won’t bother to come out and support them.

With Puerto Rico still in recovery and healing from the trauma of Hurricanes Irma and María, Chicago’s Puerto Rican diaspora is taking the lead in earthquake relief efforts to help avoid history repeating itself from both 2017 hurricanes and the 1918 earthquake.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The greatest immediate death threat after earthquakes, such as those Puerto Rico has experienced for more than two weeks, are traumas that people may be exposed to in the face of a structural collapse. But Health Secretary Rafael Rodríguez Mercado has not shared a plan to address this risk nor has contacted his specialized trauma team since the earthquakes began, dangerously exposing the public.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The Justice Department asked the Office of the Special Independent Prosecutor Panel (SIP) on Friday to investigate the 12 members of the Telegram chat, which includes former governor Ricardo Rosselló-Nevares and some of his closest collaborators.

They call for long term investments instead of piecemeal solutions.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — El mayor peligro inmediato de muerte luego de terremotos como los que vive Puerto Rico hace más de dos semanas son los traumas que pueda recibir la gente por el colapso de estructuras, pero el secretario de Salud, Rafael Rodríguez Mercado, no ha comunicado un plan para atender este tipo de riesgo ni ha contactado a su equipo especializado en trauma desde que iniciaron los sismos, exponiendo peligrosamente a la ciudadanía.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — More than two years ago, Hurricane María revealed that Puerto Rico was utterly unprepared for a powerful hurricane despite its location in one of the world’s most storm-vulnerable regions.

Latino Rebels Radio: January 12, 2020

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A magnitude 5.9 quake shook Puerto Rico on Saturday, causing further damage along the island’s southern coast, where previous recent quakes have toppled homes and schools.

Latino Rebels Radio: January 10, 2020

GUAYANILLA, Puerto Rico (AP) — A new community has popped up in this earthquake-damaged town in southwest Puerto Rico: it houses 300 people, a dozen police officers and one macaw.

SAN JUAN (AP) — More than 2,000 people in shelters. Nearly one million without power. Hundreds of thousands without water.

In the aftermath of several earthquakes and tremors, Puerto Ricans are in a suspended state of paranoia.

El retrato nacional de Haití engaña: hacha, pico, palo.