Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017, with what the
Department of Office of Homeland Security labeled as a Category 4 hurricane. It had been one
of the foremost devastating hurricanes to hit Puerto Rico, Since September 13, 1928 when
hurricane San Felipe made landfall, with a Category 5. Hurricane Maria crashed through Puerto
Rico causing severe damages to homes and businesses, they also underwent heavy casualties
because the Puerto Rican government failed to have an updated emergency plan emplaced. The
Devastating Hurricane plan that the Puerto Rican government did have emplace, the Puerto
Rican officials failed to execute. They relied heavily on the federal government to come to aid
during the times of a natural disaster.
Puerto Rico was unprepared for Hurricane Maria because they were complacent with the
fact that Hurricane Irma had bypassed the northern side of Puerto Rico two weeks before, which
caused minimal damage and just left many Puerto Ricans without power and water. With
Hurricane Maria approaching they assumed that the outcome would be similar or that it would
just completely bypass Puerto Rico all together. After the destruction from both Hurricane Irma
and Maria, the recovery process took months and years for the people of Puerto Rico to
possess their water and electricity restored especially with their lack of structure and execution of
a proper mitigation and preparedness plan.
After the crisis, multiple agencies came together in an effort to enhance and assist Puerto
Rico with rebuilding their water system with a memorandum of understanding. “The purpose of
this memorandum was to generate a working relationship with Por Los Nuestros, Water Mission
International, Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust, the Puerto Rico Community
Foundation, the American Red Cross, OXFAM, the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, and
the United States Environmental Protection Agency, so that they could develop and implement
equitable and dependable solutions to the communities drinking water. They created this
memorandum because the drinking water is solely relied on Non-Prasa systems which are
located in remote and rural areas which solely rely on surface water and can also rely on
groundwater for their water supply.
Puerto Rico suffered unnecessary loses because the government failed properly execute
their mitigation plan and preparedness plans. Puerto Rico failed to test out their emergency plan
and make sure that all participating agencies and first responders understood their roles and
responsibilities during a natural disaster. Rivera (2019) states that “the collapse of the
infrastructure in Puerto Rico demonstrates the lack of implemented mitigation measures” (p. 3).
Another reasoning for their lack of preparedness is because of Puerto Rico’s Agency of
Emergency Management Administration (AEMEAD), who was solely responsible for the
enforcement of the mitigation planning, failed to implement the approved plan which was signed
on 26 September 2016, which they were required to have per the federal government and
Stafford Act.
Because of the minimal impact that Hurricane Irma had on Puerto Rico weeks before, the
Puerto Rican government failed to fully activate their catastrophic plan or the communications
procedures they had emplaced. Due to their lack of planning and proper execution of their
financial assistance awarded by the federal government, Puerto Rico never properly utilized
those funds to enhance their building and water structures, or their communications systems.
With the lack of training and exercises, there was a lack of preparation and coordination between
the Puerto Rican government, AEMEADA, and first responders, which shows that there was no
use of National Incident Management system or Incident command system. Hospitals did not
have the resources to continue to operate in a time of crisis that would wipe out their power or
the supplies needed to respond to a mass casualty crisis. The amount of casualties and lack of
time it took for Puerto Rico to respond to its own disaster, shows that no exercises were done to
ensure all agencies and support were aware of their responsibilities during a natural disaster.
Hebrews 5:8, “Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he
suffered.” This passage relates the crisis discussed because, as a government and its failures such
as the lack of mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery a hard lesson is to be learned at
the cost of others’ lives. With the lack of planning and mitigation Both the Puerto Rican
Government, Federal Government and other supporting agencies identified that it was going to
take more than just one government or agency to rebuild Puerto Rico. Disasters such as
Hurricanes that hit our nations shows that we as a nation cannot always mitigate against every
disaster, but we can always build stronger plans to prepare, respond and recover from them.
References:
EPA. (2018). MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING. Retrieved from URL
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (epa.gov)
King James Bible. (2020). King James Bible Online. Retrieved from
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Hebrews-5-6_5-9/
Rivera, J. (May 30, 2019). A Content Analysis on the Phases of Emergency Management for
Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. The Pegasus Review: University of Central Florida
Undergraduate Research Journal, 11(1), 8-17.
https://www.urj.ucf.edu/vol11issue1/rivera/observations.php
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