I still don't have electricity.
There are still people in need of food, water.
It’s been more than 50 days and
Puerto Rico, as it was once known, is no longer.
Hurricane Maria swept through the U.S. territory on September 20th
and led to the largest recorded blackout in U.S. history.
By mid-October, they were in the midst of a humanitarian and economic crisis,
and on the brink of a possible health catastrophe.
I turned to social media to see what was really happening on the island.
That’s when I got in touch with Fernando from Adjuntas.
Steph in Guaynabo.
And Jose Miguel from San Juan.
I asked if I could virtually join them for four weeks in their journey to rebuild their lives
and communities after Maria.
By my fourth week trying to speak daily with them —
that is, whenever they could get internet access or service —
I thought Puerto Rico would somewhat be up and running.
But man, was I wrong.
Puerto Rico looks like a nuclear bomb hit the entire island.
And luckily just left us alive.
And there's still people that don't have roofs over their head.
There are still people that have no access to clean water.
There's, I mean, I don't expect to have electricity in my home in the mountains till next year.
Like we took a lot of years backwards.
It’s been almost two months post-hurricane, and this is what we know:
One of the biggest challenges is
I couldn’t imagine going a month without electricity, let alone more than
So I asked them to show us a typical day without power in each of their neighborhoods. Take a look.
Obviously the fridge is no longer a thing. We do have some dry foods.
This is basically how my mom’s been able to cook, she has two cans, one grill.
It takes forever. Maybe an hour for what would be cooked in 10-15 minutes.
Some, these solar lamps that we’ve been using.
We’re used to the dark by now.
Hi Melissa, here is the generator that I’m using to power the fridge
and like two fans and charge my phone and my computer and stuff.
Then I put some gas in and start it,
I get like maybe 10 hours out of this thing.
This is your typical night. You can only hear electric generators.
Mostly going up until 5 or 6 in the morning.
If you’re not able to afford an electric generator, you’re doomed,
you won’t be able to sleep. You’ll go crazy.
MELISSA: That’s another thing, generators are really expensive.
Normally, they can range from $200-$700,
and that’s not even counting the gas or diesel needed to keep them running.
I know that a lot of people have generators that spend a lot of fuel
and a lot of money. I know of people that can spend
40 dollars for 6 to 8 hours.
MELISSA: Lack of communication is perhaps the biggest issue on the island.
For example, agencies like FEMA have most of the information for victims online.
We’re talking about points of food and water distributions, For example, agencies like FEMA have most of the information for victims online.
We’re talking about points of food and water distributions,
hot line numbers, and applications for damages.
The main issue is, a lot of people in rural areas of the island don’t have
smartphones, access to internet, or even phone service.
So pretty much from day one, everything has been communities organizing
because even from the first week we realized that FEMA
and the government response was completely inadequate.
It was inefficient.
We are now on our way in sector Palomo,
letting the community know that tomorrow we will be bringing some groceries
for the most affected people in the area.
For the first two weeks there were thousands of thousands of supplies just waiting on the docks,
because there weren’t enough truckers.
The truck drivers got to San Juan and they're saying like, ok, give me the water,
give me the food, give me all the materials we need
for we could take it to the mountains.
They would say just write your name on a list and we’ll get back to you.
And the truck drivers were like, we have no phone service in the mountains,
we haven't anything. How are you going to call us?
Like the help gets to the Plaza.
There's a lot of people that don't have cars.
And by the time they find someone who can give them a ride to the place,
there’s nothing left.
We’re their territory so they’re responsible,
like FEMA isn’t a charity. We pay for FEMA with the taxes we pay in our housing.
MELISSA: When Puerto Ricans realized that rescue agencies weren’t getting supplies to those in need,
specifically in mountainous and rural areas,
civilians like Fernando, Jose Miguel, and Steph
did it themselves.
They documented their physical and emotional journey
and sent footage to me whenever they could drive down to an area with service or internet.
We’re here in Sector Juntos of barrio Garzas which apparently no one has come to visit
or offer any kind of help,
so everyone we keep on bumping into, we’re giving them groceries,
they say that we’re the first people that they’ve seen come here.
This is how we are doing the distributions.
A month, day 30 after Hurricane Maria
and this is the first time people have been receiving goods and water
after this hurricane. Nobody has been able to come here.
I’m on my way to pick up I think three people to go to Utuado.
Setting up the tents and the tables.
There’s food for a couple of hundred people here.
After a few hours, we finally reached sector Las Minas.
There’s a massive landslide which has some families uncommunicated
so we’re gonna have to walk to take the groceries to them.
And I already got crazy stuck.
MELISSA: After miles of walking, Fernando reached this family,
where the mother of this man suffers from breast cancer.
After the hurricane hit, the mayor of Adjuntas came by with the press
and promised to send her medicines.
They never arrived.
We have potable water so they can grab for their homes,
we got a little bit of food.
The situation is really, really sad.
A lot of people have lost their homes.
A lot of old people who can’t move and have diseases.
We rescued some Direct TV satellites,
and we just pinched them and we made a “fogata”.
And we made a meal, a warm meal for over 50 people.
Steph, how did you feel going to these communities and not seeing any local or federal help
get to these people?
I feel Hurricane Maria kind of like washed away all the that blind covers
we had and really put out all the lies and all of the bureaucracy that our government has.
People are dying. People need help.
MELISSA: As of now, the official hurricane-related death count is 55.
The unofficial could be up to ten times according to the mayor of San Juan.
In addition, Buzzfeed News reported that there’s been more than 900 bodies cremated
since the hurricane after being classified as “natural deaths”.
I guess they were trying to either, you know, downplay the crisis we're living in
or kind of just fit into Trump's narrative that this wasn't this bad of a situation.
The first few weeks they just said 16 deaths.
16 people versus, in the thousands.
You can be very proud of all of your people.
And we know that they weren't counting the deaths due people that died in the hospitals
because of lack of power. People who have died from diseases
who could otherwise be treatable but maybe,
you know, lack of transportation accessibility or electricity
has made everything so much more complicated.
We won't know how many of those were from really natural causes
or what happened with them.
You don't see the transparency in our government and it's going to keep happening.
I saw the same thing in my reporting,
numbers just didn’t add up.
The official Puerto Rico Police list of missing people by mid-October was 109.
But I kept seeing and reaching out to people on Facebook
who were still looking for their loved ones, like:
The father of Gladys Esteves, Gabriel Esteves from Añasco, Puerto Rico.
The loved one of Davina Miranda, Amelia Mirada from Bayamon.
These names were not in the official list.
So I called the Puerto Rico Police offices in San Juan.
I’ve been on hold for 40 minutes.
Now they’re contacting me to another department.
And waited,
and waited,
41 minutes.
No response.
One woman on Facebook even told me that she was terrified
that her uncle had been part of the 911 bodies cremated.
that as many as 130,000 Puerto Ricans are migrating to the U.S. mainland. that her uncle had been part of the 911 bodies cremated.
that as many as 130,000 Puerto Ricans are migrating to the U.S. mainland.
The conditions have become so unbearable that as many as 130,000 Puerto Ricans are migrating to the U.S. mainland.
that as many as 130,000 Puerto Ricans are migrating to the U.S. mainland.
Most have arrived in Florida.
We have like our hearts in our throats just by thinking that Puerto Ricans are leaving.
And do you personally know anyone who has left the island?
A lot of artist friends of mine have left, a lot of family members of mine have left.
It’s harsh. It's it's a forced exodus.
So I know about 30 people that have left Puerto Rico indefinitely or maybe for the moment
until things calm down a bit here.
Things are moving really, really slow and I don't blame like a lot of people that have decided
to go because they lost it all.
People’s day-to-day life has been turned upside down.
The most basic tasks have now become extremely complicated.
Hey, so, you see all this big line? This is the line to go to the bank.
My mission today is something as simple as trying to get cash from the bank,
it’s gonna take a few hours. Let’s go.
Like nothing is working, so we can’t get money out tonight or today.
I was trying to get food for my fiance's mom.
We went to Sams because they told us they had ice there.
When we tried to get in, the line was like all the way around just to get into the parking lot.
I couldn't even get inside Sams.
Everything is a struggle. Getting gas in some places is a struggle,
getting water in some places is crazy.
MELISSA: Jose Miguel is a single dad and gave us a glimpse of the difficulties of caring for a toddler
in these chaotic times.
This has been a challenge for me too.
But my kid, man. I have to be the best father in the worst conditions,
that’s why he goes with me to the communities.
I know for a lot of people not young and all that have kids,
it's been really, really a struggle.
Because kids get hungry at the worst times.
MELISSA: One reason for the shortages and the process being so slow is the Jones Act,
a rule that was established in 1920,
and is why foreign aid and supplies aren’t allowed into Puerto Rico
after a natural disaster like Maria.
The Jones Act is pretty much just a completely antiquated law
that controls up shipping routes to Puerto Rico.
So the only shipments that are allowed to come here has to be like entirely U.S. crew
and U.S. shipping routes.
Just so you have an idea, Tylenol, they make Tylenol here.
They ship the Tylenol to the United States to pack it.
And then they ship it back to us and sell it to us.
So we’re paying the export free and the import fee.
Plus we are paying the taxes. So it’s crazy.
Puerto Rico is a commonwealth or territory of the U.S. but not a state.
So to be clear, Puerto Ricans are Americans,
but they lack one basic right of citizenship:
I can’t vote for the president, no one living in Puerto Rico can.
But Puerto Ricans can go to war for the United States.
We have a voice in Congress but we don't have a vote.
The way Trump came and completely disrespected our people.
I didn't choose him, I was not allowed to vote for him.
I mean, even before addressing Puerto Rico, he was talking about
the kneeling football players for a week
while here we were facing an utter catastrophe.
MELISSA: The home of Steph's dad was shattered by Maria.
Steph was helping him through the FEMA online application process to get him reimbursed.
He, the inspector came,
The FEMA inspector?
Yeah, the FEMA Inspector but it's not FEMA. It's another company subcontracted by FEMA.
I tried to check up on the status. They told me that I couldn't check the status
because it was made by another subcontracted company.
I called this company WSP and they told me that they don't have anything on.
And when I then call FEMA back and they're like, no, I don't have anything on him
I'm just going to give him his $500 which is nothing because he lost everything.
MELISSA: FEMA has extended their ONLINE application deadline
for disaster relief for 120 days
I emailed them to ask how people without access to internet or electricity will
fill out the applications, but got no response.
Again Puerto Rico is helping Puerto Rico.
We have some people that are going into communities with their laptops
and with some Wi-Fi appliances and they're like helping other people fill their applications.
We still need help and if you can help with whatever you can help,
sharing the post or whatever.
It’s important for voices to rise up and be heard.
We're not just pawns or toys or consumers.
We're people,
we're humans,
and we're dealing with a lot of suffering.