美国国家公共电台 NPR 'I Don't Feel Safe': Puerto Rico Preps For Next Storm Without Enough Government Help

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

It's been nearly two years since Hurricane Maria devastated¹ Puerto Rico, and rebuilding on the island is going slowly. Congress has allocated² around $20 billion to rebuild houses and infrastructure³, but very little of that money has been dispersed⁴ yet. But for many in Puerto Rico, there's a more pressing concern. It is hurricane season again, and across the island, people and communities are trying to get prepared. In Puerto Rico, NPR's Greg Allen found few people who think the island is ready for another hurricane.

GREG ALLEN, BYLINE⁵: Using cranes and heavy equipment, a crew's working to replace an old cement-and-steel bridge that was damaged by Hurricane Maria.

HECTOR CRUZ: (Speaking Spanish).

ALLEN: Hector Cruz says this is the main road in and out of town. He's the director of emergency management in Utuado, a community in the highlands of central Puerto Rico. After the storm, massive landslides⁶ and downed trees blocked mountain roads, cutting the town off from the rest of the island for weeks. Many have not rebuilt their homes, and their roofs are still covered with blue tarps. If a hurricane hits Puerto Rico this season, it would be a huge setback⁷, Cruz says.

CRUZ: (Speaking Spanish).

ALLEN: "We will have even more washed out roads, less access," he says. "We'll have the same level of destruction. And next time, the problems will be even worse because many things have not been addressed yet." The director of Puerto Rico's Bureau of Emergency Management, Carlos Acevedo, agrees that the island remains⁸ vulnerable.

CARLOS ACEVEDO: (Through interpreter) Yes. What happened during Maria could happen again.

ALLEN: Even so, Acevedo says Puerto Rico is much better prepared than it was two years ago. The island now has a detailed⁹ disaster response plan, something it didn't have when Maria hit.

ACEVEDO: (Through interpreter) I feel proud of what we've done in Puerto Rico. I trust that the government response in Puerto Rico to a hurricane would be very different this season from Maria's. We have much more information, much more logistics.

ALLEN: Acevedo says his agency now has warehouses¹⁰ around the island stocked with emergency provisions. Another area where there's been a major improvement is communication. All of the island's 78 municipalities now have satellite phones and radios to ensure they won't lose contact with the outside world as they did in Hurricane Maria. But for many residents, there's another concern. After Maria, their homes aren't safe places to take shelter. A FEMA assessment¹¹ found nearly every building in Puerto Rico was damaged by the storm.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOG BARKING)

ALLEN: Few communities were hit harder than Toa Baja, a town just west of San Juan. After torrential rains during Maria, the government opened the gates of a nearby dam, causing extensive flooding. Yarilin Colon¹² is the president of Toaville, a neighborhood in Toa Baja. She says about a third of the homes in her neighborhood now are abandoned.

YARILIN COLON: (Through interpreter) I worry about that. They bring in vandalism. There are two abandoned homes across the street from my house, and I don't feel safe.

ALLEN: Colon's house lost its roof. Her seamstress studio on the first floor was destroyed. Because she and her husband have a mortgage to pay, she says they have no choice but to stay. So she's organized her community to rebuild and prepare for the next hurricane.

COLON: (Through interpreter) It would be good to get help from the government, but we're not waiting for the government here. We are helping¹³ ourselves.

ALLEN: Neighbor Marilian Vazquez says her family is still reeling from Maria. Her home was heavily damaged. After her husband's ice cream truck was destroyed, he fell into a deep depression and hasn't worked since. As she tells the story, tears roll down her cheeks.

MARILIAN VAZQUEZ: (Through interpreter) We haven't seen anything done in Toaville to make us feel safer. The authorities haven't done anything to improve river water flow. We haven't seen any cleanup of the drain system. I just don't feel safe.

ALLEN: Vazquez says her sons and in-laws live in the neighborhood, and that's what's keeping her here.

VAZQUEZ: (Through interpreter) I'd like to move, though Toaville is a very nice place. It's peaceful. We are a close-knit community. I have great neighbors. But for my peace of mind, I'd move. It's just not easy.

ALLEN: Astrid Diaz, an architect who works to build resilient homes and communities, says even among people who live in unsafe areas, that's not uncommon¹⁴.

ASTRID DIAZ: The tradition in Puerto Rico is that generation after generation, they want to live in the same neighborhood. And it's very difficult to try to relocate them. And that's part of the challenge, to educate them that they're going to have a better life if they go to a safe place. People say (speaking Spanish) nobody get me out from here.

ALLEN: In the absence of help from the government, communities like Toa Baja and many others are taking steps on their own to become more resilient and able to respond to future disasters. About an hour's drive southwest of Toa Baja, up narrow, winding¹⁵ roads, takes you to Mameyes, a small mountain community. Since the storm, residents have opened a health clinic. Nurse Noelia Rivera takes us on a tour.

NOELIA RIVERA: (Through interpreter) This is the surgery room. If someone comes in with wounds, cuts, maybe an abscess that we can drain, we can treat minor¹⁶ injuries here. Otherwise we assess and transport to a hospital.

ALLEN: The clinic was opened with help from foundations and charities and is powered totally by solar panels. It serves seven rural communities with many elderly residents. Before Maria, people here had to travel an hour or more for health care, even for minor issues. Once the storm hit, health care became even more critical. And Rivera says it took weeks for outside help to arrive.

RIVERA: (Through interpreter) Of course, all the roads were unpassable. They were washed out or covered with dirt. The road to Jayuya, to Utuado, to Arecibo, to Manati - we had to clean out all the landslides. The community came together, but it was a huge job.

ALLEN: Residents here believe the health clinic will make Mameyes self-sufficient and able to respond in future disasters.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ALLEN: Back in the small city of Utuado, things look much better than they did right after the storm. On the town square, people are out. Stores are open. The flags of the U.S., Puerto Rico and Utuado fly outside the colonial-era city hall. But the town's mayor, 36-year-old Ernesto Irizarry, says flatly we will never be fully¹⁷ prepared for a hurricane.

ERNESTO IRIZARRY: (Through interpreter) Yes, we can be stronger because we've built a better communication system or because we now know what to do in a catastrophic situation. But the important thing here is personal readiness, that you and your family are ready to survive for three weeks or a month without government help.

ALLEN: For people in Puerto Rico two years after Hurricane Maria, that may be the storm's most important message. Being prepared means not being dependent on that government help.

Greg Allen, NPR News, Utuado, Puerto Rico.

1 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

2 allocated   

adj. 分配的 动词allocate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The Ford Foundation allocated millions of dollars for cancer research. 福特基金会拨款数百万美元用于癌症研究。
• More funds will now be allocated to charitable organizations. 现在会拨更多的资金给慈善组织。

3 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

4 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 landslides   

山崩( landslide的名词复数 )； （山坡、悬崖等的）崩塌； 滑坡； （竞选中）一方选票占压倒性多数

参考例句：

• Landslides have cut off many villages in remote areas. 滑坡使边远地区的许多村庄与外界隔绝。
• The storm caused landslides and flooding in Savona. 风暴致使萨沃纳发生塌方和洪灾。

7 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

10 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

11 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

12 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• Here,too,the colon must be followed by a dash.这里也是一样，应当在冒号后加破折号。
• The colon is the locus of a large concentration of bacteria.结肠是大浓度的细菌所在地。

13 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

14 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

15 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

16 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

17 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。