Former Governor of Puerto Rico Alejandro García Padilla took a jab at President Trump on Twitter following comments the President made about the United States' relief efforts on the island.
Padilla questioned Trump's rating of his performace as a "10," showing a group of surgeons operating on a patient using only light from their cell phones and flashlights more than one month after Hurricane Maria.
This is what POTUS calls a 10! Surgery performed with cellphones as flashlights in Puerto Rico today. pic.twitter.com/5pnK5dkkE6 — Alejandro (@agarciapadilla) October 21, 2017
It's unclear where the photo, which has been widely circulated on Twitter, originated from.
Trump gives himself a ‘10’ for Puerto Rico hurricane response
In addition to retweeting the image, a number of Twitter users shared their own outrage over the lack of aid Puerto Rico has received in the weeks since the hurricane.
Many were quick to point out that about 28% of the island is still without running water. Nearly 90% of the island is without electricity.
we're in niger to teach them human rights, john kelly says, as doctors perform surgery by cellphone light in puerto rico. — 🎃 Salomé 🎃 (@Salome) October 22, 2017
84% of Puerto Rico is w/o power
Yesterday, a surgery was conducted by cellphone light.
An affront to humanity. https://t.co/Rl1ZfqEJOa — Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) October 21, 2017
We need power 💡 We need power 💡 We need power 💡 We need power 💡 We need power 💡 We need power 💡 We need power 💡 We need power 💡 — Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 (@PuertoRicoPUR) October 21, 2017
Trump, often quick to respond to critics on Twitter, has yet to take aim at Padilla.
On Oct. 19, however, he gave himself a hearty pat on the back for his handling of recovery efforts in Puerto Rico.
San Juan mayor slams Trump's self-assessed score on P.R. recovery
"I would give myself a 10," he said.
"I think we've done a really great job and we've had tremendous cooperation from the governor and we are getting there and people are really seeing the effort that's been put into Puerto Rico."
A week prior, Trump tweeted that Washington couldn't continue to help Puerto Rico "forever."
Around the same time, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló estimated that the death toll had reached 48.
Chuck Schumer wants U.S. to hire honcho to manage P.R. response
"In the emergencies, things might have the appearance that they are stabilizing at one point, but you always have future problems that can arise such as public health emergencies and otherwise," Rosselló said.
While Rosselló carefully evaded trashing Trump during the conversation with reporters, Puerto Rico Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz has been clear in how unhappy she is with Trump's response to the devastating natural disaster.
"I think it's conduct unbecoming of a leader of the free world," she said on NBC on Oct. 13 referencing Trump's early tweets seemingly blaming Puerto Rican citizens for how things unfolded.
Donald Trump has come under fire for giving himself high marks for his response to the disaster in Puerto Rico while more than 80% of the island remains without power more than a month later. (Evan Vucci/AP)
Jbaybayv on October 23rd, 2017 at 22:21 UTC »
Being an island has to be the hardest obstacle they have. I live right where Irma made landfall in Florida and went just shy of two weeks without power. Granted damage was not nearly as bad but same situation where a significant amount of the electrical grid was damaged. Our quicker power restoration came from multiple states where everyone was able to drive down. If Puerto Rico wasn't an island they'd be further along the road to recovery than they are at the moment.
JutNob on October 23rd, 2017 at 20:52 UTC »
I work in Emergency Management. I Have some insight into what's going on here. I'm not "victim blaming" or blindly support Trump here but, this is a problem with both Puerto Rico, and Federal law.
An "Incident" (blanket term for both Natural and, Man-made disasters) is managed at the lowest possible level. So, If this was a disaster in your county, your county government would manage it, and ask your state government for help. Your state would then ask FEMA for help if it needed additional resources and funding. This is how the Law deams it to work and, how it usually works out best.
It's part of the changes that came about after Katrina. It used to be that once the state asked for help, FEMA took a bigger leadership role. The main problem with that model is, FEMA personnel from other parts of the country are clueless about your community. They don't know what resources you have, their capabilities or, have working relationships with them. FEMA personnel also face a huge learning curve when dealing with the makeup of the the residents and the potential dangers of the local industries.
It's the local cops, firefighters and emergency managers that know the critical needs of their communities and it's why that shift in leadership was made.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/16/health/puerto-rico-hospital-ship/index.html
Puerto Rico, just as every other state and territory of the U.S., is required to have an Emergency Management agency or, task an existing agency (Dept. of Health, State Police equivalent, etc...) with the authority and the responsability, to plan for and be able to function in a disaster such as this. It looks like PR's government is failing it's people as much as the Feds are.
TL;DR: The U.S. response could has been quicker, Americans are suffering but, Puerto Rico's government has dropped the ball it this case and, it's illegal for FEMA to come in and take over.
Edit: Thanks for the Gold!
Edit 2: Wow guys, Thanks for the Gildings and great response to my comment.
Melmab on October 23rd, 2017 at 20:10 UTC »
Every pole that held a power line was destroyed. Puerto Rico doesn't have the infrastructure to mass produce their own poles, and the docks are absolutely crammed with humanitarian aid. I guess if someone wanted, they could chopper them off a barge out in the ocean and drop them somewhere, but is that the best use of that resource (choppers)? Last I heard, PR hospitals were running off generators - as long as they have gasoline / NG/LP gas, that should work in a crisis event.