Our neighbors lost their home [during Hurricane Maria]. One of them lived with us for six months. It was impossible to find potable water and the rivers were dangerous because of the contamination. Sometimes we would be in line six or seven hours to get inside the grocery store, just to find out there was no food left. There was scarcity everywhere, but still people supported each other. After our family’s situation somewhat stabilized after two weeks, we started going to neighborhoods and towns where there was need. Sometimes we crossed rivers on foot just to get to those families. Everywhere we went they told us the government had not shown up.

- Andrea Martínez, 31-year-old artist and professor, five and a half months without power[1]

INTRODUCTION

The United States has an inexcusable history of failing to protect communities of color from environmental hazards.[2] Public officials often fail to invest in preparedness and rebuild communities of color after mass devastation.[3] After Hurricane Harvey hit Texas and Louisiana, “Hispanic and black residents were twice as likely as their white counterparts to report experiencing an income shock following the storm and then not getting the help they needed to recover.”[4] White residents were twice as likely as Black residents to report that FEMA approved their relief applications.[5] Environmental threats will continue to disproportionately harm communities of color until the government prioritizes impartiality in preparedness and recovery.[6]

This paper focuses on the intersection of systemic racism, climate change and disaster response, illustrated by the U.S. government’s response to Hurricane Maria when it struck Puerto Rico in September 2017. To prevent racial inequities in the government’s disaster response, the government must develop a comprehensive rebuilding package that provides resources to every community in need. It must provide immediate relief to ensure basic needs are met, fund programs that help people get back on their feet, and provide resources and staff to rebuild the community.

CLIMATE CHANGE DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTS COMMUNITIES OF COLOR

The environmental justice movement began in the 1980s, when many people began to notice environmental inequalities in toxic pollution exposure.[7] Robert Bullard, an environmental justice advocate, performed a study that found 100% of city-owned landfills in Houston were located in predominantly Black neighborhoods.[8] It revealed that “race­–not income, socioeconomic status, or property values — is the most potent predictor of where waste facilities are located.”[9] In response, the EPA constructed a definition for environmental justice:

"Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies. EPA has this goal for all communities and persons across this Nation. It will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn and work."[10]

This definition encourages the participation for all people to be active in environmental policy, but it does not eliminate the current health hazards that people of color disproportionately face.[11]

Minority communities around the world face devastation after environmental catastrophes. When Hurricane Katrina hit, African Americans of low socio-economic status were the most affected group.[12] Many minorities occupied low-lying land and could not evacuate before the storm.[13] During the initial evacuations, one in 10 African Americans were evacuated, compared to almost nine out of 10 white individuals.[14] Some African Americans who could not evacuate lived in cardboard boxes labeled “Katrina ghettos,” while white families stayed in hotel rooms.[15] The adult mortality rate among African Americans was 1.7 to 4 times higher than whites.[16]

Communities of color also suffer a much lengthier recovery because critical agencies are slow to respond. [17] They receive insufficient information, are often rejected for necessary loans, receive little governmental relief, and face discrimination and rejection in their search for housing.[18] There are several factors that may contribute to this, including lower levels of disaster education and preparedness, lower risk perception, lower likelihood of evacuation, lower socio-economic status, and higher likelihood of residing in poorly constructed homes.[19]

HOW CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECTS PUERTO RICO

Over 95% of published climate scientists believe humans have been responsible for global warming over the past half-century.[20] Anthropogenic climate change greatly increases the frequency and severity of natural disasters.[21] Puerto Rico is extremely vulnerable to climate change.[22] The surrounding waters of Puerto Rico have warmed by two degrees since the early 1900s.[23] Warming ocean temperatures increase the hurricane rainfall rates, storm surge heights and number of major hurricanes.[24] High ocean temperatures also cause coral bleaching, which results in colony death.[25] Coral reefs protect the shoreline against waves, surges and sea level rise.[26]

THREE DEADLY HURRICANES OF 2017

2017 was the most expensive hurricane season ever recorded.[27] The Atlantic’s unprecedented hurricanes — Harvey, Irma and Maria — shattered countless records.[28] On average, there are 12 named storms and six hurricanes each summer in the Atlantic.[29] But in 2017, there were 17 named storms and 10 hurricanes.[30] Six of the 10 hurricanes were “major”[31] hurricanes.[32] Climate change continues to intensify extreme weather events.[33]

1. Hurricane Harvey

In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas as a Category 4.[34] It produced two feet of water in the first 24 hours.[35] One study predicted that climate change increased the amount of rainfall Harvey produced by 20 to 40%.[36] Harvey’s extreme rainfall was a “1-in-2,000 years event at the end of the 20th century, but by the end of the 21st century that likelihood will be 1-in-100 years.”[37] Harvey damaged over 200,000 homes; 75% of these homeowners did not have flood insurance.[38] Three weeks later, almost 4,000 homes remained without power.[39] It caused $125 billion in damage, ranking as the second costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.[40] Harvey resulted in 68 direct deaths and 35 indirect deaths.[41]

2. Hurricane Irma

Within a month after Harvey, Irma hit the Caribbean islands as a Category 5 hurricane.[42] Irma weakened and made landfall in the Florida Keys as a Category 4 and then struck southwestern Florida as a Category 3.[43] Irma dumped between 10 and 15 inches of rainfall.[44] Winds of 185 miles per hour continued for 37 hours.[45] It caused major wind, electrical, and agricultural damage.[46] It was the fifth costliest hurricane to hit the U.S., causing $50 billion in damages. [47] Irma caused 47 direct deaths and 82 indirect deaths.[48]

3. Hurricane Maria

When Hurricane Maria struck in September 2017, Puerto Rico was still trying to recover from the impacts of Irma, a Category 5 storm which hit the island only two weeks earlier.[49] The island was still without power and clean water when Maria hit.[50] Maria hit Puerto Rico as a strong Category 4 hurricane, registering only one mile per hour short of a Category 5.[51] It caused the largest and longest-lasting power outage in U.S. history.[52] There was a 100% power loss before the storm even left the island.[53] The power outage lasted more than 10 months.[54] Most hospitals on the island were unable to operate because they did not have electricity or fuel for generators.[55] Three days after the storm, only three major hospitals were functioning.[56] Without electricity, doctors had to use their cell phone light to perform surgeries.[57]

Maria produced the single largest maximum rainfall event in Puerto Rico since 1956.[58] Maria dumped 1,029 mm of rainfall, which is one fourth of the average total annual rainfall at the wettest location on the island, Yunque National Rainforest.[59] One study concluded that “a storm of Maria’s rain magnitude is nearly five times more likely to occur today, with warmer air and ocean water, than it would have in the 1950s, when global warming’s effects were in their infancy.”[60] The immense rainfall caused severe flooding and landslides in the mountains.[61]

Many people have questioned the death count after Maria. The official death count is 64.[62] The Institute of Forensic Sciences must confirm every disaster-related death in Puerto Rico.[63] To confirm the death, the body must be brought to San Juan or the medical examiner must travel to the location to verify the death.[64] This makes it difficult to accurately and timely estimate the deaths.[65] It is also difficult to estimate indirect deaths, which result from worsening of chronic conditions caused by delayed medical treatment.[66] Many researchers conducted different studies, attempting to estimate the actual number of deaths caused by Maria. One study concluded that there were a total of 4,645 excess deaths,[67] while another estimated there were between 1,191 and 2,975 deaths.[68] Regardless of which method provided the most accurate number of excess deaths, Maria likely caused at least 1,000 deaths that were overlooked by the government.

Maria was the third costliest tropical cyclone in the U.S. since 1900.[69] It caused $90 billion in damages.[70] Strong storms, like Maria, amplify the gap between the rich and poor.[71] Approximately 43.5% of Puerto Ricans live in poverty.[72] Many poorer residents live in less dense, detached housing where electricity restoration lagged.[73] They are the most vulnerable to prolonged power outages due to increased mortality and morbidity risks.[74] The risk of death was 45% higher for people living in areas of low socio-economic development.[75] Without power, many struggled to properly store and prepare food, store medicine and use crucial medical devices.[76]

COMPARISON OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSE TO THE THREE HURRICANES

Harvey, Irma and Maria were incredibly destructive and deadly. While Harvey was the costliest of the three storms, Maria and Irma closely followed. Harvey caused $125 billion in damages, Maria caused $90 billion, and Irma caused $50 billion.[77] Nine days after the storms hit, FEMA awarded $100 million to Harvey and Irma survivors.[78] Maria survivors received $6 million.[79] Two months after the storms, Harvey survivors received $1.28 billion and Irma survivors received $899 million.[80] Within five months after Maria, the Department of Homeland Security had accumulated more than half a billion in post-hurricane expenditures, but less than one-fifth of these resources were in the hands of Puerto Rican contractors.[81]

Immediately after Harvey, FEMA delivered 80 tractor-trailer loads of emergency supplies with cots, blankets and meals.[82] In Puerto Rico, the quantity of these items was inadequate and the delivery was slow.[83] The Jones Act of 1920 restricted shipping to Puerto Rico, which prevented relief supplies to be shipped to the island outside the U.S. Merchant Marine.[84] The Trump administration took seven days to lift this restriction, which delayed federal relief workers from reaching several parts of Puerto Rico.[85] This delay caused some Puerto Ricans to be without power, communications, running water, fuel, bottled water or medicine for nine to 10 days.[86] Puerto Rico, like Texas and Florida, contributes annually to FEMA and relies on its assistance.[87]

Congress responded to the hurricanes using three spending bills.[88] First, in September 2017, Congress allocated $15.25 billion to Harvey and Irma disaster aid.[89] Harvey survivors received millions of dollars in federal aid within two weeks.[90] In October 2017, Congress passed the second spending bill.[91] $4.9 billion was apportioned to Puerto Rico in the form of a Community Disaster Loan.[92] In comparison, the September bill provided Texas and Florida funds under a Community Development Block grant rather than a loan.[93] In January 2018, the government refused to provide the $4.9 billion loan to Puerto Rico because Puerto Rico had too high of a cash balance.[94] Congress passed the third spending bill in February 2018, which required the governor of Puerto Rico to establish a 12-month and 24-month recovery plan.[95] Neither Texas nor Florida were required to have recovery plans before acquiring funds.[96]

The president of the United States at the time, Donald J. Trump, downplayed the severity of Maria and refused to make disaster relief a priority. Even though the administration knew the path and intensity of Maria five days before it hit, it took six days after Maria struck for Trump to hold a briefing on the hurricane.[97] A former Obama administration emergency relief official called this delay “disaster malpractice.”[98] Trump compared Maria to Hurricane Katrina and suggested that Maria was not a “real catastrophe.”[99] He stated that “[e]very death is a horror, but if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here and what is your death count? Sixteen people, versus in the thousands.”[100] Trump continued, “[y]ou can be very proud. Sixteen versus literally thousands of people.”[101]

During Trump’s visit to Puerto Rico, he went to the Calvary Chapel where Puerto Ricans gathered supplies and he threw rolls of paper towels into the crowd.[102] Later, in a Tweet, Trump said “[Puerto Ricans] want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort.”[103] Trump’s insensitive comments and lack of understanding illustrate that “in the eyes of the US government, especially under the current administration, the Puerto Rican population, in its vulnerability, is bound by its disposability.”[104]

The government’s poor response illustrates environmental injustice.[105] After Irma and Harvey, the government sent more first responders and spent more federal money on restoring the communities than it spent in Puerto Rico.[106] The government responded much quicker and more effectively in Florida and Texas.[107] The disparity in the response was not based on the severity of the hurricanes or the amount of aid required to rebuild.[108] As U.S. citizens, Puerto Ricans rightly expect the same federal aid after a natural disaster as citizens on the mainland receive.[109]

WHAT CAUSED THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S POOR RESPONSE TO HURRICANE MARIA

Race and politics likely influenced the government’s poor response to Maria. Race is a complicated matter for Puerto Ricans. Prior to the 1960s, in an effort to “appear whiter to the United States,” census takers “decided people’s race for them, and applied whiteness liberally on the island, sometimes reclassifying people from black to white.”[110] Although many Puerto Ricans have roots in Africa, more than 75% identified as white on the last census.[111] But after the government’s response to Maria, Puerto Ricans are reevaluating their choice to identify as white.[112]

In a study conducted to explore the role of race in the government’s response to Maria, one participant said “[l]ook how things are in Texas [in reference to the emergency response after hurricane Harvey]. If we were a bunch of whites the response would have been completely different.”[113] Many participants expressed “the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico is the best evidence of how Puerto Ricans are treated as second-class citizens.”[114]

Puerto Rico has been a territory of the United States since 1898.[115] Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens when Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones-Shafroth Act in 1917.[116] Despite being U.S. citizens for a century, almost half of Americans did not know that Puerto Ricans were U.S. citizens when Maria hit.[117] Even though they are U.S. citizens, there are many limitations on their citizenship rights. Puerto Ricans can elect a non-voting representative in Congress and vote in presidential primaries.[118] However, since Puerto Rico is not part of the electoral college, Puerto Ricans cannot vote for president of the United States in the general election.[119] Puerto Ricans residing in one of the 50 states can vote for president, but Puerto Ricans residing in Puerto Rico cannot.[120] Puerto Rico’s lack of influence makes it extremely difficult for the island to demand fair treatment and defend itself against the United States.

COMPREHENSIVE FEDERAL REBUILDING PACKAGE

To prevent another humanitarian crisis, Congress must develop a comprehensive federal rebuilding package that will support vulnerable communities.[121] First, the government must provide immediate basic relief to ensure health and safety in the community.[122] Second, the government must fund programs that help rebuild the community and enhance its emergency response to natural disasters to prevent this from happening again.[123]

1. Immediate Relief: Meeting the Community’s Basic Needs

Immediately after a disaster, the federal government must secure temporary housing for all people who require it. Maria destroyed thousands of homes across the island.[124] Two weeks after Maria, FEMA had approved 14,000 applications for housing assistance and the first blue roof was installed 15 days after Maria.[125] For comparison, two weeks after Irma hit Florida, FEMA had approved 145,000 applications and blue roofs were available across 17 counties.[126] The government must fund emergency shelters and maintain sufficient staff to assist displaced families.

Providing information regarding federal assistance is futile if the recipients are unable to understand the language. Language barriers cause delays in recovery assistance.[127] Any information regarding access to food, water, shelter, medical care, safety and transportation must be provided in all languages spoken in the area.[128] All hard copy materials must be accessible in braille and large print font, and all verbal announcements must be accompanied by a sign language interpreter.[129] Otherwise, many people may be unable to interpret life-saving information.

Approximately 50% of Puerto Ricans rely on the public health system for medical care.[130] The government must ensure that all people have access to medical care. If there is no electricity to run hospitals, the government must provide pop-up medical clinics with generators. Doctors and nurses should provide free medical care in fully-stocked trailers that are capable of treating a broad range of injuries and illnesses.

Long-term power outages make it nearly impossible to store or prepare food, safely store medicine, or use medical devices that require electricity.[131] It took over 18 months for power to be fully restored on the island.[132] The government must provide solar panels and battery packs to areas experiencing these long-term power outages.[133] The government must provide sufficient staff to assist in the restoration, especially in high-risk communities.

The government must promptly deploy staff to distribute food and water. The government was woefully slow to distribute supplies after Maria, and when the supplies arrived, the food consisted of “a can of sausages and a bag of skittles.”[134] Sanitation and clean drinking water are imperative to prevent people from contracting potentially deadly diseases.[135] By allocating funds for sanitation and providing medical care, the number of indirect deaths will decrease. Once the supplies arrive, the government must deploy the National Guard. There were several reports of looting after Maria, and 18 homicides occurred in the first 10 days.[136] Law enforcement presence is essential to prevent crimes and protect those who lack the safety of being in their homes.

2. Short-Term Relief: Beginning to Rebuild the Community

Once the community’s basic needs are met, the government must start rebuilding the community. The government should reapportion the funds from temporary shelters to programs that assist in rebuilding and repairing homes. It should provide qualified engineers to determine which structures are safe. Government contractors should help repair or rebuild homes. The government should extend government programs to allow people who do not normally qualify to obtain federal assistance if they have been displaced or unemployed due to a natural disaster.[137]

The government must allocate funds to rebuild critical infrastructure, especially healthcare facilities, affordable housing, public schools and childcare facilities.[138] The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) must provide funding for homeowners to repair all affordable housing damaged by the storm.[139] HUD must distribute the funds equally based on the cost of repairs.[140] In addition, reopening public schools and childcare facilities is essential to allow parents to go back to work and rebuild the economy.

The government must provide emergency transportation to evacuate residents by utilizing cruise ships, commercial airplanes, private aircraft or any other means. Due to the high poverty rate, many residents would not have the resources to evacuate if another storm like Maria hit. After the storm is over and it is safe to travel, transportation should be available to get those who no longer have adequate housing or resources immediately off of the island.

The government must be prepared for future disasters. FEMA must have sufficient resources available at all times. Prior planning is imperative so there is an immediate reaction when the disaster hits. The government cannot continue to neglect communities that are historically vulnerable to climate change. By reallocating funds and developing better emergency plans, the government could restore an entire community and prevent numerous deaths and illnesses.

CONCLUSION

The environmental justice movement has brought awareness to climate change issues greatly affecting communities of color. But there is still significant room for improvement. On Jan. 5, 2021, the Trump administration announced it will award a $3.7 billion grant to Puerto Rico to rebuild water and wastewater treatment plants, pumping stations and reservoirs.[141] The administration announced this grant over three years after Hurricane Maria.[142] In the future, the government must provide timely relief to these communities. It must not provide funding based on race and politics, but rather based on the amount of aid required to meet the immediate needs of the community. Every U.S. citizen, regardless of their geographic location, race or socio-economic status, deserves to receive sufficient federal aid after a natural disaster.