Puerto Rico versus Haiti


It has been five days since Hurricane Maria swept across the island of Puerto Rico. Many news outlets and commentators are comparing the current disaster response to that of the Haitian earthquake. In doing so, they display a lack of understanding for how the disasters compare, and more importantly, do not compare.

Air National Guard Airmen with the 165th Airlift Wing in Savannah, Ga., drive forklifts with hurricane response supplies and gear for airlift to Puerto Rico and St. Croix, Sept. 25, 2017, at Savannah Air National Guard Base. The cargo was loaded onto a 143rd Airlift Wing, Rhode Island Air National Guard C-130J cargo aircraft. The flight departed this morning with a security forces contingency from the Washington Air National Guard as well as embedded national media from NBC nightly news. As of Monday morning, the 165th Airlift Wing loaded C-130 and KC-135 aircraft from 11 states with cargo, gear, and passengers in 69 sorties to the disaster areas in Puerto Rico and St. Croix. (U.S. Air National Guard photo/Master Sgt. Mike R. Smith)

The data in these tables, especially for Puerto Rico, is rough. I have embedded cites as I could.

Demographic Comparison

Puerto Rico
9/20/2017		 Haiti
1/12/2010		 Notes
Affected population 3,411,307 9,999,617
Deaths 16 46,000-316,000
In shelters 15,000 1,500,000
Homes destroyed 105,000
Distance to Miami 1,033 miles 709 miles

Assistance Comparison

Puerto Rico
9/20/2017
-9/25/2017		 Haiti
1/12/2010
-1/17/2010		 Notes
Military personnel 2,300 National Guard
elements of the 249th Prime Power Battalion		 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division
US Navy ships USS Kearsarge
USS Oak Hill		 [Wikipedia] USS Carl Vinson CBG
USS Bataan
3 dock landing ships
2 survey and salvage ships
USNS Grasp
USS Underwood
US Coast Guard ships 13 cutters, 10 aircraft [Wikipedia] Mohawk
Forward
Tahoma
Ports opened 1 0
Airports opened 5 1 Haiti had 1 intl airport, with 1 runway.
Local military bases Fort Buchanan none

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Shannon Cooledge, a loadmaster from the 143d Airlift Wing directs Senior Airman Lexington Allen, an air transportation specialist as he loads water onto a C-130 Hercules on the flight line of the Savannah Air National Guard Base, Savannah, Ga. Sept. 25, 2017. The Air National Guard stood up hub-and-spoke operations out of Savannah to transport supplies to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands in the wake of Hurricane Maria. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Amber Williams)

Puerto Rico Relief Notes

  • Six FEMA Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) task forces are deployed to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Additional teams arrived 9/24.
  • Federal partners assisting with Search and Rescue (SAR) missions include the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and the U.S. Department of the Interior / National Park Service.
  • An additional five flight deck-equipped cutters, five patrol boats, four rotary wing, and one fixed wing aircraft are moving to the vicinity of U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico
  • 92.5 percent of cell sites out of service. No television or radio stations reported out of service.
  • FEMA Urban Search & Rescue (US&R) task forces rescued 165 individuals and searched over 45 structures. Of those, approximately 100 people were rescued from a collapsing bridge in Puerto Rico (9/23)
  • Areas of the US southeast that would normally be providing disaster assistance, National Guard troops, supplies, cannot while they are dealing with the effects of Hurricane Irma. Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina
  • Hurricane Maria’s track after striking Puerto Rico made dispatching assistance by sea difficult.
  • Haiti’s government was decimated by the earthquake. Puerto Rico’s local and state government is largely intact.
  • The increased distance from the United States adds ten hours or more to any seaborne efforts.
  • There were no hospitals functioning in the earthquake struck areas of Haiti until relief efforts set them up. Many, if not most, of Puerto Rico’s hospitals are operating under generator power, despite damages from the hurricane.
  • In Puerto Rico, power is restored to the following hospitals: Centro Médico Hospital in San Juan and San Pablo Hospital in Bayamón
  • More than half of the dialysis centers in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are now operational.

US Government Resources for Puerto Rican Relief

  1. Defense Department
  2. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
  3. National Guard

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