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Recovery Collection: Puerto Rico: Hurricane Maria 2017

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Introduction

Hurricane Maria, a category 4 hurricane, made landfall on the island of Puerto Rico on 20 September 2017, less than two weeks after the category 5 Hurricane Irma passed the northern part of the island. Hurricanes Irma and Maria also affected a number of neighbouring countries and territories including Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Haiti, St. Barts, St. Martin, Turks and Caicos Islands, the mainland United States of America and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In Puerto Rico, Hurricane Irma killed 4 people and brought about widespread power outages and water service interruption for several days, which left at least 900,000 people without power and 50,000 without water. Hurricane Maria was subsequently one of the worst disasters in Puerto Rico’s history, killing at least 2,975 people based on the independent study conducted by George Washington University, which was commissioned by the Puerto Rican government, and partially or completely destroying approximately 166,000 residential buildings. The hurricane caused damage to already fragile infrastructure which had cascading impacts on lifeline infrastructure systems such as energy, transportation, access to health and essential services. The hurricane affected nearly every resident of Puerto Rico, but older adults, children, people living with disabilities and chronic illnesses, and women were disproportionately affected. A pre-existing decade-long economic crisis consisting of structural, demographic, health, social and infrastructure issues exacerbated the damage to the communities on the Caribbean Island.

To build back better in recovery from this devastating hurricane, the Government of Puerto Rico established the Central Office of Recovery, Reconstruction, and Resiliency (COR3) to play a central role in the recovery effort. It developed the Economic and Disaster Recovery Plan with support from federal legislation, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC). The plan was developed, aligned with existing plans such as Build Back Better Puerto Rico, the Plan for Puerto Rico, the National Disaster Recovery Framework, and the 2018 Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery Action Plan. The team supporting the government to develop the plan conducted damage and needs assessment within specific sectors and across sectors. They identified more than 270 specific courses of action for recovery with an estimated cost of 139 billion USD over an 11-year period.

The Government of Puerto Rico sees the recovery not just as an opportunity to make the island more disaster resilient but also as a means to revitalize its economy, society and infrastructure, to lead Puerto Rico to be an innovative state. The core values for the recovery plan are capacity-building, resiliency, transparency, and innovation, and it includes short-term priorities to address the immense scope of needs such as the reestablishment of lifeline systems and repair or reconstruction of residential structures. It calls for long-term priorities to build resilience including revitalizing urban centers for economic recovery efforts and scaling social services; resilient health, education and infrastructure systems; and rebuilding infrastructure to meet modern codes and standards.

To assist the Government of Puerto Rico’s recovery efforts, the FEMA has been involved in a number of projects. As of December 2021, the FEMA had approved funding the projects to repair damage caused by Hurricane Maria and provide hazard mitigation measures for future disasters for more than 67 recreational plazas which are central to people’s gathering and economic activities. FEMA also provided a recovery toolkit for damaged schools, which includes federal resources and directories with technical assistance opportunities to help schools build capacities to be prepared against future disasters in the four key areas: planning and design, workforce readiness, contracting and procurement, and project review.
 

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Knowledge base

Items: 47
Mitigation Assessment Team Report Hurricanes Irma and Maria in Puerto Rico Building Performance, Observations, Recommendations, and Technical Guidance
Documents and publications
2018

Mitigation Assessment Team Report Hurricanes Irma and Maria in Puerto Rico Building Performance, Observations, Recommendations, and Technical Guidance

This assessment report is intended to provide decision makers, government officials, academia, homeowners, and business owners, operators among other stakeholders with information and technical guidance that can be used to reduce future hurricane damage.
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Housing Damage Assessment and Recovery Strategies Report Puerto Rico
Documents and publications
2018

Housing Damage Assessment and Recovery Strategies Report Puerto Rico

This report culminates months of data gathering, strategy development, recovery priorities and potential strategies and the results of various community-level damage assessments in the aftermath of the Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Hurricane Maria Two-Year Update American Red Cross
Documents and publications
2019

Hurricane Maria: Two-Year Update

This report covers the American Red Cross's response and recovery efforts for damage caused by Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico in the past two years after its occurrence.
American Red Cross
Response and Recovery after Maria Lessons for Disaster Law and Policy
Documents and publications
Publications
2018

Response and Recovery after Maria: Lessons for Disaster Law and Policy

This article analyzes the reasons for the flawed response to the 2017 Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and proposes improvements in future disaster policy.
University of California, Berkeley
A Framework for Evaluating Electric Power Grid Improvements in Puerto Rico
Documents and publications
Publications
2019

A framework for evaluating electric power grid improvements in Puerto Rico

This report is based on analysis performed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory from March 2018 to July 2018 in support of Puerto Rico’s recovery plan.
Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center RAND Corporation
Far From Recovery Puerto Rico Six Months After Hurricane Maria
Documents and publications
Publications
2018

Far from recovery: Puerto Rico six months after Hurricane Maria

This report provides an overview of conditions on the ground of recovery from the 2017 Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, as of March 2018, reviews the underlying vulnerability, and offers recommendations for a way forward to a more equitable recovery.
Oxfam - America
Post-Disaster Recovery in Puerto Rico and Local Participation
Documents and publications
Publications
2020

Post-Disaster Recovery in Puerto Rico and Local Participation

This document shows the post disaster recovery progress, the challenges and opportunities for local participation, and the potential contribution of nonprofit organizations, municipalities, and local businesses to post disaster recovery in Puerto Rico.
City University of New York
Hurricane Maria Three-Year Update
Documents and publications
Publications
2020

Hurricane Maria: Three-Year Update

This report is a summary of the American Red Cross's engagement of response to and recovery efforts from the 2017 Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico for the past three years.
American Red Cross
The Status of Puerto Rico’s Recovery and Ongoing Challenges Following Hurricanes Irma and María
Documents and publications
Publications
2020

The Status of Puerto Rico’s Recovery and Ongoing Challenges Following Hurricanes Irma and María: FEMA, SBA, and HUD Assistance

This report provides information to help inform Congress’s understanding of the status of Puerto Rico’s recovery, including a recap of forms of federal assistance provided to Puerto Rico and considerations for improving these and future recovery efforts.
Congressional Research Service
The Education Sector in Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria
Documents and publications
Publications
2020

The education sector in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria: Predisaster conditions, hurricane damage, and themes for Recovery

This report details prestorm conditions, assesses the damage and recovery needs, and describes the courses of action represented in the recovery plan for the Education sector from the 2017 Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center RAND Corporation

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