
I teach physics in Puerto Rico. On 20 September 2017, HurricaneMaria, a category 4 storm hit the island. I live in Trujillo Alto and my
house was without electricity for 105 days until 3 January 2018.
Today there are several hundreds of thousands of people in Puerto
Rico who do not have electricity and for those who do have power
the system is unstable with frequent blackouts. Hurricane Maria
hitting Puerto Rico was part of a hurricane season that included
massive destruction in Texas and Florida. Unless you have lived
through a similar experience, it is difficult to imagine what Puerto
Rico was like in the weeks after the hurricane. If you did not have
stockpiled in your house food, water, cash, gasoline, propane, or medicine these things were only available from your neighbors or in very limited quantities in the few stores that were open. There was no telephone service and there were very few first responders to answer your call. For a week and a half after the storm I was a volunteer with the Municipal Emergency Management Office. The day after the storm they had no generator and no communication with the vehicles that left the office. The instruction was return in 3 hours so that we know that you are alive. And it was not only the lack of telephone service. Radio and television stations were going off the air. There were no newspapers, Internet, or postal service. For most people the only connection with the world was an AM radio operated with batteries. And the radio was filled with hospital administrators making a desperate plea for a truck load of Diesel.
For more Lupine Publishers open Access journals please visit our website
For more ocean journal articles please click here
For more information click on below link