Hurricane Responses
August/September 2017
Summary
Over the past month, three devastating hurricanes have hit the United States. Hurricane Harvey has left a lot of Texas in shambles while the effects of Hurricane Irma hit Florida and some parts of Georgia as well. Although these hurricanes were extremely disastrous the United States government responded swiftly. The same cannot be said about their response to Hurricane Marie in Puerto Rico. The entire country has not only lost power but is low on crucial supplies such as oil, food, and water.
Analysis
To begin with, Hurricane Harvey and Irma both had a plethora of assistance from FEMA. For example, within days’ victims of Hurricane Harvey had almost 31,000 FEMA employers there to assist. In addition, they provided nearly 3 million meals and 3 million liters of water. There was even more assistance for victims of Hurricane Irma (they had more than 40,000 federal personnel in addition to 6.6 million meals and 4.7 million liters of water). Sadly, the response has not been the same for Hurricane Maria. FEMA claimed that more than 10,000 federal staff were in Puerto Rico to assist the population. Furthermore, after both Hurricane Harvey and Irma President Trump was there visiting four days after the natural disaster. Trump still has not visited Puerto Rico yet. In addition, there has been a difference in congressional reaction to the natural disasters. For example, after Hurricane Harvey Trump signed a bill that gave FEMA 22 billion dollars to assist them in their aid relief while no bill has been signed as a response to Hurricane Maria. This lack of response has received a plethora of attention. Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Hamilton creator, exclaimed that Trump was “going straight to hell. No long lines for you. Someone will say, ‘Right this way sir.’ They’ll clear a path.” President Trump has not helped his case as he tweeted that Puerto Ricans “want everything to be done for them”.
Engagement Resources
- Town Hall Project– This project compiles the open-to-the-public events held by state and local representatives. This provides a great opportunity to tell them that this executive order will do more bad than good. You can also dial 1-844-6-RESIST to be redirected to the office of your local member of Congress.
- US Senate – Contact your local representatives to take a stance against this proposed legislation. – https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/
- US House of Representatives – Contact your local representatives to take a stance against this proposed legislation – http://www.house.gov/representatives/
This brief was compiled by Vaibhav Kumar. If you have comments or want to add the name of your organization to this brief please contact vaibhav@usresistnews.org.
