Heartbroken About Puerto Rico

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Puerto Rico Providence Moms Blog

I first went to Puerto Rico in December of 2016 with my family. I instantly fell in love with the culture there. A territory of the USA, meaning no passport needed, made it an easily accessible tropical paradise. My family loved it so much we went back again just 6 months later, exploring new places there. It didn’t take us long after the second trip for us to start dreaming of going back again.

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When Hurricane Irma skirted it and only caused some flooding and minor issues, we breathed a sigh of relief. Then Hurricane Maria came.

In college I had a dear roommate from Puerto Rico, and we have stayed close ever since. I contacted her the day after Maria hit to see how her family was. She was frantic and unable to make contact with either of her parents. I suggested that she scour Twitter for anyone posting updates about their town and to contact them. Finally she heard from a friend that her parents were fine. Still, it was hard because she didn’t know the state of her parents’ homes.

It’s so heartbreaking to see pictures of the aftermath of a place that is filled with so many treasures from gorgeous beaches, a rainforest, beautiful caves, rich history, delicious food, and lush farms.

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It must be so terrifying for those that have loved ones down there that they weren’t able to check in with right away. What a blessing to have social media outlets now to help connect us together during these natural disasters. Cell towers are still down in many areas, thus making communications really difficult.

Hopefully good will come from this disaster. Already struggling as a country with debt and now facing more debt to rebuild. It will be interesting to see what the USA will do as a nation to aide them. Water, food, and electricity are highly scarce right now as new systems are being rebuilt. Puerto Rico seems to have strong tight-knit communities already. I pray that as they rebuild, they will be able to have a stronger infrastructure that will make them resilient to more natural disasters.

How to Help

If you want to help Puerto Rico by donating consider donating to United for Puerto Rico where 100% of the proceeds go to help victims affected.