Puerto Rico - a fragile paradise

"I was so scared. I had never seen that type of wind before. It was so strong that we couldn't even hear the rain, like it was gone. I was shocked by the power of nature. In that moment, I surrendered"

This is how Jessimar, a 22 years old student from Puerto Rico, describes the day in which her life, as well as the lives of millions of people changed forever. The day hurricane Maria, one of the stongest storms the country has ever witnessed, hit the island. Leaving behind a trail of distruction and misery.

Jessimar lives with her mother in a flat in Trujillo Alto, just outside the capital San Juan. She recalls the tension of the final hours before the hurricane reached the land from north-east on September 20th 2017. "They [the Government] announced the hurricane and all the people became really nervous. Also the medias were influencing and frightening them, when in fact we should have been more calm and prepared because hurricanes are something normal for us".

Only few weeks before, Puerto Rico had to prepare also for the passage of hurricane Irma, which coused minor damages to the country. Puerto Ricans are quite used to hurricanes since the island is often in the trajectory of tropical storms. However, Jessimar defines her country as "privileged" because in most cases hurricanes pass nearby the island without major effects on the land; often changing their route through the Caribbean sea or towards Florida.

Jessimar explains to me that there are several ways in which people prepare for hurricanes in the country. First of all, everybody storms inside the shops to buy as much food as they can in case it may be impossible for them to leave the house during the storm, as well as storing water for drinking, showering and other necessities. Than people start to put wooden boards outside their windows to protect them from possible flying objects and lines of tape on the inside to avoid the fall of crystals inside the house if the window shatters.

In this ciscumstances, cities and towns are often left without power, sometimes for entire weeks. That's why people buy portable generators and candles in case the light goes off. Than the wait begins, the last few hours of tension before the hurricane arrives.

That Wednesday the hurricane arrived in the middle of the night and the situation immediately deteriorated. "The wind was very strong. From the inside you could hear the branches of the trees snapping, the noise of glass shattering and the sound of the door being shaken by the wind" says Jessimar. In those hours the wind reached the speed of 270 kmh (167 mph).

NASA photo of hurricane Maria

"My mother and I had to sleep in the kitchen", Jessimar tells me, "we weren't feeling safe in any other room in the house [...] , a big tree fell and destroyed the wall of my mom's bedroom and everything that was inside was ruined. We could hear things breaking inside her room".

She recalls that that night, all ways of communicating were lost. Only one radio station remained active. Sharing informations with the whole island and reading live the message sent from Puerto Ricans living in the United States who were trying to communicate with their friends and families. Something that Jessimar had never witnessed before.

The lack of communication with the world, the absence of electricity and the fear for her life, the life of her friends and relatives made Jessimar reconsider what her priorities really were, as she commented: "for the first time in my life I really felt connected to my instincts. We often think we need specific things, like I need to go on this trip or I need this shirt or this pair of pants. It was a moment when all of this things lost importance and the only things that mattered were that I needed to protect myself, to eat and that my family was safe".

Hurricane Maria touched the whole island whit its fury, transforming one of the most beautiful countries in the world into a hell on Earth for many of its residents. It took several weeks to restore the power to the majority of the population, many houses and businesses had been destroyed and roads were flooded.

Even the environment was deeply transformed by the passage of the hurricane and this had a big impact on Jessimar. "It stripped the vegetation. All the trees were left without leaves. Puerto Rico is always green, so it looked like winter had arrived. It is never like this, looking at the landscape was quite shocking".

Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States and relies haevily on the import and export of goods between the nations. However, aids were slow to arrive, aggravating the situation on the island for millions of people. After more than six months since the disaster the country is still struggling to return to its former conditions. Progresses have been made but it's difficult to predict how long it will take for things to go back to normal.

Damage to Jessimar's house: