FEMA/PUERTO RICO: “Politicians from both political parties reacted angrily to news of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s plan to end shipment of emergency food and water supplies to storm-battered Puerto Rico. On Tuesday [1-30-18], several lawmakers called on the agency to reverse its decision.
Details of FEMA’s plan – which the agency said would take effect Jan. 31 — were first reported by NPR. In addition to ending new shipments to the island, the agency said it would turn the food and water that remained over to the Puerto Rican government, which would distribute them until stocks ran out.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson said he was ‘absolutely shocked’ by FEMA’s decision. ‘I urge the administration to reverse this disastrous decision immediately and to continue providing the people of Puerto Rico with the help that they need as they are trying to recover from two disastrous hurricanes.’…
But perhaps the most surprising reaction came from the government of Puerto Rico itself. In a statement, the island’s public security secretary, Hector Pesquera, said that while he was aware that FEMA would eventually transfer responsibility for distributing food and water supplies over to the island’s government, ‘this has not happened yet and we were not informed that supplies would stop arriving.’
His statement contradicted information that FEMA sent NPR in an email last week. An agency spokeswoman wrote that ‘FEMA will continue to provide commodities to the State [Puerto Rico] until January 31st.’ She also wrote that the agency’s food and water mission would ‘officially shut off’ on that date.”
-Adrian Florido, “Lawmakers Urge FEMA To Reconsider Ending Food Aid For Puerto Rico,” NPR, Jan. 31, 2018 07:38am