Rebuilding Puerto Rico Our World

Now on BBC News, time

for Our World, with Yalda Hakim.

The hurricane that destroyed Puerto

Rico.

Two months after Maria, this US

territory and its American citizens

are still suffering. How do you now

see life without your son? It may

belong to the most powerful country

in the world, but this is now an

island in crisis.

Even though we are

citizens of the United States,

perhaps we are perceived to be

second-class citizens.

Who will fix

it, and at what cost?

I am in Marikau, south-west Puerto

Rico. Jennifer, which is your casa?

This one? I am here to meet Jennifer

Rodriguez, who lives in a small bit

of land with her husband and four

children. This area has been cut off

from the outside world for week s.

This is quite extraordinary. This

could actually collapse. It is all

wooden planks, but it is damp. You

can see the holes everywhere.

Jennifer says that even before Maria

this house was old and weak.

The family were building a new more

sturdy one next door, and the

hurricane has forced them to move in

early. So, the second house that she

is living in, the municipality has

told her this is not secure, that

the house is not complete. You can

see this is still being built. The

roof is leaking, there are no

drains, doors, or a bathroom.

This area was well-known for coffee

plantations. Now, completely

destroyed, it could take up to five

years for them to recover. With no

work and relying on handouts,

Jennifer feels helpless. Her

priority is providing for her

children.

Jennifer took her children to her

in-laws' home to be safe during the

hurricane. When Maria came, what

happened? How did you feel?

When Hurricane Maria hit, much of

the island's infrastructure was

demolished. The electricity grid

collapsed and the three and a half

million residents of the island were

plunged into darkness. Two months

later, this remains America's

longest blackout. What is this? That

is your casa? And this, what is

this? What has happened to the tree?

Maria.

For more than 100 years,

Puerto Rico has been a territory of

the United States. This means its

people can live, travel, and work

freely in America. And when it comes

to a catastrophe like this one of

the US has a legal obligation to

help. -- one,. We have just come to

a small medical facility deep in the

mountainous area with a group of

doctors, a specialist, and surgeons.

We are here to come and meet some of

the locals who have been badly

affected by this hurricane. An hour

away from the capital city of San

Juan is Toa Alta, at the centre of

the path of the hurricane.

When we

get our patients in the clinic, we

gave him a bottle of water, and it

was like giving them a bar of gold.

Gloria runs a large hospital nearby.

Today, with the help of by the

donors and charities, she set up a

temporary clinic.

We are providing

support and help to these

communities in particular because

they asked us to bring some help

because no other agency has come to

help them. There is the baby.

They are from the community. They

left their house.

Jocelyn is just

two months old. Her father tells me

they lost everything they own.

OK.

They need water.

It does not seem a

lot to ask far from one of the

richest countries in the world. But

Puerto Rican is have thought

neglected by the United States for

decades. -- Ricans. And now the

island is in deep financial crisis.

Mass unemployment mixed with decades

of excessive or rowing by the local

government meant Puerto Rico was

facing bankruptcy even before Maria

hit. -- borrowing.

Nothing.

Nada.

You have no

electricity.

Note. You see? We drink

water from... We buy filtered water.

We have some water today! That is

great.

After finishing at the

clinic, Gloria invites us back to

her place.

We still have some of the

windows...

Oh, yeah, from the

hurricane. It looks like a

middle-class American home, but by

Puerto Rican standards, this is

luxury. But like most people here,

she still does not have electricity.

So, we have flashlights like

everybody else. We put lights all

over.

Puerto Rico owes over $70

billion to the US. Because of the

debt, the island's electricity grid

was badly maintained, even before

Maria. Now, completely broken, it

could take up to a year for power to

fully return. And many people are

tired of waiting.

My husband always

asks me, why do we leave, why don't

we buy a house outside? What about

showing my employees if it is better

to leave, but to is they hear? It is

like a dilemma, but in my heart, I

prefer to stay. -- is it better to

stay.

Wins the hurricane, tens of

thousands of people have left for

America. -- since. Locals on the

island can only vote for their

government, but once on the

mainland, they can vote for national

elections. This could change the

political landscape in the US.

President Trump visited the island

two weeks after the hurricane.

There

is a lot of love in this room to be

a lot of love in this room.

But it

wasn't coming from the Mayor of San

Juan whom he criticised for asking

for help.

I am doing what I never

thought I would do, I am begging

anyone who can hear us to save us

from dying.

The president had

tweeted that Puerto Rico was

mismanaged. After his visit he came

under fire for his lack of empathy

and for slow emergency responses. In

one of his tweets, President Trump

said that Puerto Rico is more or

less broken, it has broken

infrastructure, it is in trouble, it

has debt. None of those things are

factually correct.

No, they are not.

What is incorrect is for a president

that is supposed to be the

commander-in-chief to become the

Hate-in-Chief, and to become the

person who just tweets away his

hate. That is what is incorrect.

This is for one person, one meal a

day.

She believes America needs to

forget about Puerto Rico's debt. To

write off the billions of US dollars

the island owes.

We took as a

country more money borrowed than we

knew we could pay at some point. We

knew we were taking debt for the

next generation and the next

generation. And it is time they

accept they have lost, because he

was going to pay the debt?

That is a

good question. No one should pay it.

I said this to the president. You

either count the debt or you count

the dead. And the choice... It is

very simple.

I still remain baffled

because there is no discussion about

this debt going away, this more than

70 billion. You talk about

rebuilding and hope and change, but

how, when the debt is not going

anywhere in the poverty situation

remains the same and now it is all

being... You know, the hurricane has

added to your woes. This is why the

international community must take a

step forward and stand with the

people of Puerto Rico. Our

relationship with the United States

puts us at a disadvantage even

though we are citizens of the United

States, perhaps we are perceived to

be second-class citizens.

This is the start of the problem.

Many Puerto Rico resident feel they

are stuck between a rock and a hard

place, another fully American nor

independence, but trapped in Lego.

-- in limbo. It is Sunday and I have

come back to the mountainous region

of Maricao to join Jennifer and her

family followed. You have had a

haircut!

family followed. You have had a

haircut! -- for lunch. This is the

room we were in. She has been busy

making her unfinished house more of

a home.

You have spent the last few days

just rearranging, cleaning... In the

aftermath of Maria, millions of

people in Puerto Rico were left

without running water. But I am

struck by how well Jennifer seems to

be coping. Jennifer, is it difficult

to cook without water and any

electricity? For so many people, all

of your family? Jennifer tells meet

that even before Maria, power cuts

were common, and getting clean water

has been a problem for over ten

years. She says the local

authorities never laid down water

pipes.

Why didn't you say something to

someone? The MoU, the local

authorities, why don't you ask for a

change? -- the mayor.

Jennifer is not the only one with

these kinds of problems. Even before

Maria, Puerto Rico's water quality

was worse than any other US

territory or state.

Nice to see that the family are

trying to have some kind of

normality back in their life and

they are altogether enjoying a meal.

And trying to forget all the daily

hardships that they face. Gloria has

a bee clinic -- Gloria who set up

the clinic is searching for the man

with the tiny baby we saw a few days

ago. Before Maria struck, Jose

evacuated his family to another

village. There is nothing left. The

bathroom is the only thing left.

What do you think when you see your

baby's cost there? -- cot. Jose and

his family now stay at his mother 's

house on the other side of the road.

It is one of the only houses on the

street still standing.

Is it frustrating for you to wait

with two small children?

But it's not just buildings and

infrastructure that have been

destroyed. People have lost their

lives. I just want to know a little

more about what your son was like,

what kind of person he was.

27-year-old Anthony passed away 16

days after the hurricane in. His

family suspect he died of an

infection spread by rats.

Anthony's family think he handled

wood contaminated by rat you're in

in the aftermath of the hurricane

in. -- and that made him ill. He

went to the hospital and two days

later he died.

How do you now see live without your

son?

Since the hurricane, there have been

at least 76 cases of the infection,

that is a dramatic increase. The

bigger son and cases like your son

should be counted in the official

death toll of the hurricane? -- do

you think your son.

The death of Anthony was not because

of the impact of the hurricane in

itself, it was the result of

something that happened in the

aftermath of the hurricane in. And

it is something that she will have

to live with the rest of her life.

Could his death have been avoided

and could more have been done? The

official hurricane death toll is 55.

But that is just the people whose

death has been verified by autopsy

to have been directly caused by the

hurricane. The real figure could be

over 500 people. We may never know

the truth. The organisation with

ultimate responsibility of the

United States relief effort is the

Federal emergency management agency,

or FEMA.

This is the largest FEMA

response in the Caribbean, it has

been the most Catholic event in

Puerto Rico and probably will be in

the entire United States. --

catastrophic events.

There is piles

of rubbish, do you think it is a

public health prices?

We are taking

that very seriously.

I know it is an

example of how catastrophic things

are but it is also an example of our

slow things have been?

We are doing

what we have with the equipment that

we have, and compared to Florida or

to Texas, we are an island, there is

not enough...

I'm not making a

comparison, I am making it, we are

an island. So there was not enough

trucks, there was not enough

equipment in Puerto Rico, and

everything has to be brought by air

or sea. What would you say to the

people who are incredibly frustrated

who say that FEMA is not doing

anything?

I understand their

frustration, I don't have water

power at my house. We understand

there is a lot more that we need to

do, and we will continue working.

FEMA say they are doing what they

can. But with the territory in

financial chaos before Maria, the

task of rebuilding Puerto Rico is

daunting. With the island's competed

relationship with America, it is

unclear who is going to fix things.

In the meantime -- meantime people

are relying on the kindness of

strangers. A charity made up of

university students has arrived here

to Jennifer's home and they are

basically visiting the families who

have children, to give them toys and

food and help out in whatever way

they can. Jennifer, have you been

getting help like this? Why you

emotional?

Does it give you hope?

Today has been one of the better

days that in -- Jennifer. But her

fight to provide for her children is

far from over. Aid can only be a

short-term solution. The apocalyptic

destruction brought on by hurricane

Maria has lifted the veil and showed

the world Puerto Rico's broken

economy and rapid -- rented property

-- rampant poverty. With no money

and its peoples lives still in

shreds, an even bigger storm is

gathering.