Humanitarian Crisis in Puerto Rico: Lack of Will; Lack of Planning; Lack of Conscience
From the earliest forecasts of Hurricane Maria hitting the American island territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands and then, wreaking havoc on the far more populous Puerto Rico; it was obvious that this storm would present America and the Trump Administration with a massive humanitarian crisis, as the devastation of a Category 4 hurricane, the most powerful storm to hit Puerto Rico in 89-years, made landfall there on September 20th.
Moreover, the sheer power and devastation of such massive Atlantic storms had already been demonstrated to the young, inexperienced administration, a few weeks earlier, when Hurricane Harvey smashed into Houston and the Texas-Louisiana gulf coast; followed soon thereafter by another massive storm, Irma, that did extensive damage to Florida as well.
The glaring need for a quick response and massive relief efforts by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was apparent from the start. Trucks laden with relief supplies began to roll almost immediately after those earlier, mainland storms; even as Coast Guard helicopters and a civilian “Cajun Navy” all kicked into high gear and made dramatic rescues of victims of the storm, saving many from the swirling rising waters.
Of course, the situation in our island territories in the Caribbean would present a more daunting logistical challenge. Mindful that the infrastructures there were already far less resilient than those of Texas and Florida, particularly in the more remote, mountainous parts of the islands. Added to that was the obvious fact that — being surrounded by water — required relief eliminated any land-based efforts being undertaken. Those facts alone should have been obvious to the American President from the very start of the rapidly unfolding crisis. And, he should have planned accordingly. It’s still not clear that it ever was,…nor that he fully comprehended the challenges ahead.
Oh sure, he made a belated, de rigueur photo op appearance on the island of Puerto Rico,…two-weeks after the storm had passed; but only after first waging a Twitter war with NFL players and holding a campaign-type rally to promote his so-called “Tax Reform.” Oh,…and getting in a few rounds of golf, of course. When he finally did take time to visit Puerto Rico — the optics and the utter disconnect with the native American citizens there, and their dire need, was less than awe inspiring…
The most memorable points of his trip came — as the posts below note — when the president joked Puerto Rico was burdening the federal budget, said officials should be “proud” Puerto Rico didn’t end in as many lives lost as other storms like Hurricane Katrina, and threw paper towels to storm victims at a church. The president departed Puerto Rico about an hour ahead of time, spending just a few hours on the ground.
While there, Mr. Trump praised the federal response to the storm throughout, even as more than 90 percent of the island is without power and as many have no drinking water. (CBS News, October 3, 2017)
And now, more than three-weeks after Maria came and went, leaving the island in ruins and its 3.4-million American citizens struggling to survive and recover; the complaints keep coming — that the federal response was and still is inadequate for the glaring human needs; and the manpower and materiel dispatched (thus far) woefully inadequate to deal with the task ahead.
President Trump has lauded the “miracle” of so few deaths (compared to “real disasters,” like Hurricane Katrina); praised the federal assistance thus far; denigrated all who criticize or question his efforts and commitment; and — more recently — even threatened to abandon the effort altogether via his usual, cynical early-morning tweets. Meanwhile, various civilian volunteer groups; truckers, nurses, teachers, and military veterans from the mainland have rushed to the aid of their fellow Americans, providing both solace and much needed supplies to remote areas of the island that have yet to see any, or any meaningful response or assistance from their federal government!
Meanwhile, what official, federal aid has arrived on the island, such as the U.S. Navy Hospital Ship “Comfort,” has been marred by demands on local mayors to fill out various FEMA forms, detailing their rather obvious needs — before basic relief supplies can be dispatched and distributed to the people. Or,…in the case of the Comfort, even worse neglect, as the vaunted Navy hospital ship, equipped to treat hundreds has (thus far) only treated eight patients, while onboard medical personnel treated themselves to a “spa day” in the midst of all that suffering on shore.
Now I’m not a logistics expert, but I did serve in the military, in an operational field (in Vietnam), and I cannot help but find the inadequate advance planning and the lack of appropriate staging of essential resources — readily available from our well-equipped military — maddening and absolutely mindboggling! This is as far from “Make America Great Again” as one can possibly get. Indeed, it exceeds malfeasance and now borders on criminal negligence, if not worse.
In any reasoned view, the Trump Administration — should have anticipated what would be needed for island relief on a massive scale, to a population without power; potable drinking water; fuel; nor other island resources left intact after such a disaster, unable to cope with the recovery aftermath. An intelligent response would have required the dispatch of a couple of our esteemed aircraft carriers, to take up station on opposite coasts of the island.
They should have been loaded up with cargo helicopters and supplies and then, conducted a well-coordinated, logistically sound campaign to ferry massive amounts of essential supplies (water, food, fuel, etc.) to dedicated drop zones in the more remote areas of the island, where the mayors could have then organized locals to distribute life-sustaining supplies, and set up relief centers for those without adequate shelter; augmented by army field hospital units equipped to treat the ill and infirm.
We are talking about 3.4-million people here! It is a number that overwhelms the senses and taxes all the normal logistical imperatives; much as the crisis itself has overwhelmed our inexperienced, incompetent and childishly petulant Commander-in-Chief.
But, it’s not rocket science. It’s simply what any competent leader, and a military colossus like America should be capable of doing for a military campaign. The only difference here being one of supplying humanitarian assistance in a friendly environment,…versus waging an offensive combat campaign in a hostile one. All that was needed was the will. That, and skillful leadership. The Trump Administration demonstrated neither from the very start. All the advance disaster projections were for tremendous devastation and massive humanitarian need in the aftermath. Inadequate advance planning and lackadaisical commitment of resources and manpower, along with churlish recriminations was instead the response.
As our narcissistic President Trump is so enamored with giving himself an “A+” grade for everything he does; a more objective grading of his response to this crisis, and his vacillating commitment — to stand with the American citizens of Puerto Rico in their time of need — thus far, deserves a resounding “F” for failure!