OUTRAGEOUS

Puerto Rico Residents Find Warehouse Full of Unused Aid Two Years After Hurricane Maria

The discovery in the southern city of Ponce has sparked an uproar and led to the immediate firing of the island’s emergency management director.

Residents of a southern Puerto Rico city rocked by a recent earthquake on Saturday found a warehouse filled with unused emergency aid that had apparently been sitting there since Hurricane Maria battered the island in September 2017. The discovery in Ponce has triggered public outrage and prompted Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez to fire the director of Puerto Rico's Office of Emergency Management. Vazquez said she has ordered an investigation into why the aid was never distributed. “There are thousands of people who made sacrifices to bring aid to the south and it’s unforgivable that resources have been kept in a warehouse,” she said. The supplies in the warehouse included water, cots, and food, and residents were seen lining up to finally receive the aid on Saturday. María Meléndez, the mayor of Ponce, said she had no idea that aid supplies were inside the warehouse. “This is outrageous,” she told the AP. “Everyone knows what us mayors went through after Hurricane Maria to try and get help to our cities and how we’ve worked these weeks to provide basic supplies to people affected by earthquakes. Those involved owe us an explanation.”