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October 2, 2017

12 Days After Hurricane, Over Half of Puerto Ricans Lack Clean Water
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In Puerto Rico, a humanitarian catastrophe continues to unfold 12 days
after Hurricane Maria struck the island. Over the weekend, the Pentagon
said the percentage of Puerto Rico's 3.5 million residents without
access to clean drinking water rose to 55 percent. Only 5 percent of the
island has electricity, while food and fuel remain scarce and about half
of the island's roads are impassable. This is Miriam Rodriguez, a
resident of the city of Caguas.

Miriam Rodriguez: "This is a very disaster. I have no water. And
very-I'm not buying food, because I don't have a generator. My husband
has a [inaudible]. I don't know how I get a machine to have some air in
my home. But I want to tell my family in Chicago that we're doing well,
but this is very disaster, because this is the first time I'm crying. I
haven't cried for a long time."



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