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More than 64: Candlelight Vigil

It's one year after Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico and people are still grieving and recovering.

It's one year after Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico and people are still grieving and recovering.

Members of TAMU Puerto Rican Student Association gave students and members of the community a place to grieve as well as be informed last night. The More than 64: Candlelight Vigil was one of many vigils held around the U.S. as part of a movement called 1 year after Maria.

Ricardo Mercado is the President of TAMU PRSA and has been to Puerto Rico twice since Hurricane Maria hit, once that same year in December and another this past summer. The amount of devastation to the island was hard to describe.

“Still 6 months later it looked apocalyptic because all the trees were barren and the countryside was just like a dull gray because of the trunks of the trees,” Mercado said.

The More than 64: Candlelight Vigil was not only a place to grieve for those affected but also a chance for PRSA to inform people of the situation in Puerto Rico now and how help is still needed.

“You have to recognize that, sure the roads are clear and sure the lines are up, but people’s homes are still destroyed, people’s lives are still destroyed,” Mercado said.

Members of PRSA explained how much devastation Hurricane Maria caused but also why. One of the reasons was due to a lack of preparedness due to some people in Puerto Rico believing Hurricane Maria to be a lower category hurricane. Another was due to the fact the power grid in Puerto Rico was already damaged and old.

One of the main causes of help not getting to the people fast enough in the aftermath of the storm was due to all the downed trees on the roadways which made transporting goods or people difficult. Though much of the devastation and hardships that came after the hurricane could be tied to Puerto Rico’s local government.

Mercado said Puerto Rico’s local government had a plan for hurricane preparedness as well as routes for distributing supplies but made the conscious decision to not follow that plan after Hurricane Maria and has not given a reason for that decision.

“And the new plan that they’ve designed for hurricane preparedness they are refusing to make public. So that is a lack of transparency and a lack of responsibility on the part of their administration and they have blood on their hands as a result of that,” Mercado said.

Mercado did add that both the local and federal government both have their parts to play though in providing aid after a natural disaster such as Hurricane Maria.

“The local director of the FEMA operation has clearly stated in an interview that FEMA could be there, the federal government could be there, recovering and responding for the next 5 to ten years easily,” Mercado said.

For more information about the impact of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico go HERE and for more information on the 1 year after Maria movement go HERE.

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