Puerto Rico: in Holly’s Eyes
CrowdRescue HQ Volunteer StoryCorps
I heard about CrowdRescue HQ a day or two after Hurricane Harvey hit. CrowdRescue HQ’s volunteers were everywhere across Twitter — all day, and all night. I saw them tagging cries for help with “HarveySOS” and “PetsSOS” and “HarveySafe.” I learned they were turning all these SOS calls into actionable data for city, federal and volunteer rescuers. It was an innovative approach — a game changer. So I joined them.
I became a CrowdRescue HQ volunteer.
We scaled up for Irma, struggling with the unique needs of the southeast wetlands and strict curfews. By the time Hurricane Maria arrived, we had a massive infrastructure ready to go. That’s when my volunteer project became personal. Puerto Rico is where my children met their Abuela and Abuelo for the first time. It’s where I met my nieces and nephews. This beautiful island is a special place. But all the things that make it so special also make it difficult for rescue groups. Every tree on the island has been denuded of the lush vegetation which now obstruct roads at every turn, making rescue and relief efforts almost impossible. An enormous amount of rain has come down through the mountains, into the already swollen rivers, which in turn has flooded 80% of the island. Dams have been breached or broken altogether.
CrowdRescue HQ has been scouring the internet to make sure that FEMA and first responders can safely traverse roads, bridges, and waterways to deliver aid to those in need in Puerto Rico. I can tell you first hand: the situation is getting dire. I see this in our live map of ground conditions. I see it in the photos creeping across the news. And I see it in reports coming to me from my own family and friends — trapped on the island, as things get worse.
This is a report from a family friend in PR, who managed to book a private flight off of the island for this Thursday:
“There are a few commercial flights going out, but there is much more demand than flights. 1,000 people are showing up for a 200 person flight. They have no way of checking passengers in. The system is down. This is causing major problems. People with generators are running out of fuel. So people who have running water and electricity are now losing it. People are becoming increasingly tense and civility is deteriorating fast. Safety is a concern. We may be able to acquire a flight out by the end of the week, but we don’t have enough water to last until Thursday.”
This is only one of thousands of stories we have heard from victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. There are 3.5 million Americans there without electricity. 97% of the infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed. People are begging for water. The food situation is becoming more dire by the hour. The first thing people say when they see a large vehicle coming through their town is:
“Are you from FEMA?”
We are seeing a breakdown in society. Please, please help Puerto Rico if you can.
CrowdRescue HQ is smart, fast, and nimble. We’ve onboarded more than 100 new volunteers in the past 24 hours. These volunteers are now scouring social media for information on ground conditions and researching community resources, so we can share those with people so desperate for help. Even with 100 new volunteers, we can barely keep up with all of the data flowing in.
If you’d like to volunteer — or tell us your own story — please DM us on Twitter, or email us at crowdrescuevolunteers@gmail.com.
And — if you know the person able to dispatch the USS Comfort to help everyone on my beloved Puerto Rico — please. Call them.
Author: Holly O. CrowdRescue HQ Volunteer
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CrowdRescue HQ Volunteer StoryCorps is a blog series powered by everyday heroes: Laptop rescue warriors, scouring social media for post-disaster SOS calls and messages about ground conditions, left by people unable to get through to 911. We connect people with help — confirming status to the best of our ability, entering information into a database, and publishing information or handing it off to agencies and local/federal USAR teams for rescue and relief. We use the crowd-sourced power of social media to expand the capacity of our formal disaster response teams. We help the helpers.
Find us on Twitter @CrowdRescueHQ or Email us at CrowdRescueHQ@gmail.com.
