Support a Courier

Anasco and Las Marias are two municipalities in western Puerto Rico. Southeast of Rincon, these mountain communities have been hit hard by Hurricane Maria and resulting landslides. As you can see on the USGS satellite imagery of PR after Maria, Anasco (ANA) is half red and Las Marias (LMA) completely red, demonstrating the sheer volume and intensity of the landslides that have destroyed buildings, the electrical grid, water supplies, vegetation and roads. According to our friend Vivienne from Centro La Paz Yoga and Pilates in Rincon, who has been going and helping in these communities since the day after the hurricane, they have yet to receive support.

From Vivienne: "I have been on the streets since the day after Hurricane Maria here in the northwest corner of the island of Puerto Rico in work brigades, opening the roads for people to access their family members and friends, bringing food/water/supplies house by house in Anasco, Mayagüez and Las Marías neighborhoods that have not received any attention. When I say no attention I mean not local municipal government, military or federal. People are without homes, without food, without water, without medication, without schools for their children, without access to hospitals, not to mention without electricity or communication since the electrical and communication grids were torn apart. There was severe flooding, massive landslides, roads wiped out leaving no access to areas other than with helicopters. The stations serving as rescue sites are inaccessible to the majority. In Las Marias which shares borders with Anasco, Maricao, Mayagüez, San Sebastián and Moca, there are people still trapped in their homes by landslides without access to clean drinking water, food, electricity and communication."

It's hard to believe that 6 weeks have passed and so many people are still in crisis and have not been reached. With more than a million Americans on the island without access to clean drinking water and the news of 76 cases of leptospirosis on the island, the situation is rapidly becoming even more critical. Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease transmitted from animals to humans when broken skin is exposed to water or soil that has been contaminated with urine from rodents and other animals. Together with our friends, Ken and Cheryl Bryan, we plan to raise funds for as many water filtration systems as possible. This will be our second Hurricane Maria PR relief trip. We plan to deliver the filters to neighbors in need in these two municipalities as soon as possible.

Many thanks to all who have supported and shared!