I was talking to someone who is a student of the UPR and they were remembering their experience with Hurricane Fiona and events that made them think about the future for PR.

When remembering Hurricane Fiona, they remarked how they felt they were better off than many others. This is due to them living in an area where they had electricity restored two weeks after the hurricane and their family has a power plant. They live in an area close to the entrance to the neighboring municipality and they remembered how the road to access it coming from the southern municipalities was completely destroyed, thus rendering it inaccessible. Fiona reminded them a lot of Maria, but instead of the devastating winds, it was devastating flooding. Unlike how with Maria, internet was gone, this time, maintaining communication was easier, so staying informed on what was happening around PR in communities was easier. They kept hearing stories of people being rescued by neighbors in their own boats. One particular event they referred to as “fabricación de los PNP” // fabrication of the PNP (the PNP is a political party in PR that supports statehood and is currently the party of the governor). Jennifer Gonzalez, the resident commissioner of PR, was posting pictures of people coming to the aid of those trapped during the floods. Apparently, people stated that those pictures were not government officials coming to aid, but other community members.

When thinking of community organizations and locals working for PR’s recovery post-Fiona, they lamented how difficult its been for them to find LGBTQ+ organizations. Rather it be because there’s a lack of exposure for these orgs or there genuinely are too few, they expressed how most queer safe places they know of have been formed through orgs that are LGBTQ+ inclusive, not necessarily having their foundations based on specifically queer social issues and struggles.

When thinking about their campus’s response, they noted how the response to the hurricane was not appropriate. Fiona began around Saturday at night, almost Sunday, classes and activities were cancelled Friday. This lack of timely response led to student orgs rushing to secure items and lock rooms to prevent damage. Apparently, many reported damage could have been avoided had students been able to prepare in a timely manner. Another inadequate responses to the emergency was the expectancy to have students return to class within two weeks of Fiona happening. Much like the anger I expressed in a previous entry, students protested this decision due to how unrealistic it was to expect students to return to “normalcy” when many of them still had no electricity, water, and were in either neighborhoods or municipalities rendered inaccessible due to destroyed roads and bridges. It’s strange and infuriating to see a response like this. Was Maria not enough of a warning, was it not enough to make institutions such as universities be better prepared and more responsible with the lives of students, staff, and faculty?

They finished off this topic with this: “Si ya huracanes de cat 1 están causando esto, then, what the fuck?”