How one woman is empowering leaders in Puerto Rico to spearhead their own hurricane recovery efforts
On September 19, Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico. The Category 1 storm, which wasn’t expected to cause severe damage, has triggered flooding, food shortages, and more than a week later, thousands on the island are still without power.
Adi Martínez-Roman is the founder of Furia Puerto Rico, a nonprofit organization that empowers local communities and promotes the development of community leadership in Puerto Rico. She’s seen this story before, and finds it unacceptable that the local and federal governments were not better prepared for Hurricane Fiona
In 2017, Hurricane Maria caused widespread death and damage to Puerto Rico. The Category 5 storm claimed more than 2,975 lives and it took nearly 11 months for electrical service to be restored for the entire island. At the time, Martínez-Roman was working on the ground and observed how federal funds were being mismanaged or directed to the wrong places. She launched Furia (which translates to ‘rage’ in Spanish), as a way to empower Puerto Ricans with the tools they need to improve their own communities. She says that in disaster situations, the local leadership should get to play a larger role.
“We have to make sure that the voices of the leaders and their power is not trampled by all this rhetoric of ‘recovery,’"says Martínez-Roman. “And when I say community leaders, those are the people that live in the community, low income communities that have had to fight for their existence and their wellbeing since before the hurricanes.”
Video Transcript
ADI MARTINEZ-ROMAN: We are still suffering from PTSD from previous hurricanes. I just cannot believe that we're going through this again. This has broken havoc for many, physically and mentally.
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BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: I'm Brittany Jones-Cooper, and this is "Unmuted." The island of Puerto Rico is working to rebuild again after Hurricane Fiona caused widespread damage and knocked out the country's power grid. Adi Martinez-Roman joins us from Furia Inc, a non-profit organization working to bring support and aid to the people of Puerto Rico.
We see Puerto Rico in this state of constantly having to rebuild. Can you give us an update of what you've seen and heard from your team there?
ADI MARTINEZ-ROMAN: I came to Washington, DC to advocate on the fifth anniversary after Hurricane Maria.
It has been five years of continued disaster.
When I got here, Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico. What has transpired is a devastation that really took us by surprise. Receiving messages, text messages of desperation from our community leaders is heartbreaking. Other than keep the work going that we were already doing, we have to organize an emergency response. There was widespread flooding. 73% of Puerto Ricans don't have electric service. That also means, for many, that they don't have water service.
It is so hard to live without electricity in a small island in the Caribbean, especially when we're having a heat wave. Diabetes patients need their insulin to be refrigerated. You see people that are desperate, looking for ice so that their medicine don't go bad. People that depend on respirators, bedridden, those people are the ones that suffer the most. We have hospitals that don't have electric system right now. The generators ran out of diesel. And now there's a diesel crisis. It's very worrisome to think that it will go much longer.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: The power grid has been the focus for many, who question why it wasn't repaired after Hurricane Maria, when the power was out for months. Can you explain what's been happening with the power grid since then?
ADI MARTINEZ-ROMAN: The power grid after Irma and Maria was actually privatized. Luma Energy has not performed effectively. We have been getting countless blackouts since they took over. They swore, together with the government of Puerto Rico, that they were prepared. They did not have experts that are certified to do the job that needs to be done.
When you privatize something that is essential, like electricity, you always run the risk that the priority of this company is not going to be the public well-being. It's just going to be how are they going to make profit, how are they going to survive economically. It is not acceptable not to have been prepared, and thinking about how climate change is going to bring more water and more potent storms to the islands.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Your passion is very clear for Puerto Rico. And you founded the non-profit Furia in 2018 to address some of these systemic issues and strengthen community on the island. What inspired you to start that work?
ADI MARTINEZ-ROMAN: When the hurricanes hit, Irma and Maria, it was evident to us that all this money that was coming in creates an economy that can promote displacement of our communities. I think it's more a problem of oppression. You know, how disaster recovery becomes this economy.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Yes.
ADI MARTINEZ-ROMAN: That private interests then become like vultures, and the money actually does not get into the most needed. That's the reason for us that it was so important to organize something that will accompany community leaders. Those are the people that live in low-income communities that have had to fight for their existence and their well-being since before the hurricanes. Philanthropy, many times, comes like they're saving people. In Puerto Rico, the communities are saving themselves. And that is clear.
And we need a new framework of disaster recovery that the people that are actually on the ground are involved in doing the plans, in raising the red flags. What we see going wrong with disaster recovery is not only going wrong in Puerto Rico. It's going wrong right now in Alaska, where they had a storm last week. And it's also going wrong in places like Louisiana, like Texas, where Black and brown populations are left out and displaced from the recovery efforts. The people in the United States should watch closely what is happening in Puerto Rico.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: That is so powerful. And that's why the work you're doing is so important. Adi, I want to thank you for your continued work in Puerto Rico and for joining us today.
ADI MARTINEZ-ROMAN: Thank you so much.
