The government ’s misdirection of the crisis Hurricane Maria wrought on Puerto Rico was once again push up into the public eye this week , when photos of a bombastic number of bottled water pallets sitting derelict outside an airport in Ceiba went viral on societal medium .
But while the public call was fleet afterCBS News Correspondent David Begnaudbroadcasted the exposure of what he said looked like “ millions ” of bottles of water on his Twitter account Tuesday nighttime , what really happen may be a piece more complex than a simple failure to deliver backup man supplying .
The lensman who took these images , Abdiel Santana , works for the Puerto Rican Joint Forces of Rapid Action , a federal jurisprudence enforcement authority . He told Begnaud he had noticed these encumbrance of water in October or November of last yr , accord to CBS . After flying over the region again latterly , Santana told Begnaud he notice the bottle were still there anduploaded the imagesto Facebook Tuesday . Earther has arrive at out to Santana for comment and we will update if we hear back .
Puerto Rican General Services Administration ( GSA ) has a somewhat different account of the case . In apress releaseshared with Earther , the representation explained the Puerto Rican authorities was eager to get some of the Federal Emergency Management Agency ’s “ extra water inventory ” and claim about 20,000 pallets in May 2018 . But after delivering over 700 pallets , the agency receive “ several charge ” about their olfactory modality and taste . That ’s why the rest of the bottles are still sitting fresh , per the agency .
BREAKING : What may be millions of water bottles . mean for victims of Hurricane Maria , have been seat on a rails in Ceiba , Puerto Rico , since last year , concord to@FEMA , which confirm the news to me , later tonight , after pictures , posted today on societal media , run short viral.pic.twitter.com/jidGJAvCyJ
— David Begnaud ( @DavidBegnaud)September 12 , 2018
On Thursday , FEMAtold CBS Newsit had moved the pee outside in January to save money before transferring it over to the Puerto Rican government in April .
FEMA was ab initio quick to distance itself from the news report . On Wednesday , the agency say Earther that the H2O was hand off to the GSA , and , from there , the water was its responsibility . Looks like the presidential term is clapping back at FEMA , however , with claims that the water was n’t set to drink by the time they convey it . Now , the Puerto Rican government is organize water tests with FEMA and the Department of Health .
“ The Municipality of Barceloneta and the Corporation for Public Dissemination expressed these complaints , ” say GSA Administrator Ottmar Chávez , in the press release .
All of this is news to Ceiba Mayor Angelo Cruz Ramos , who told Earther he had no idea these pallets of water were sit within his municipality . He establish out about it Tuesday night like the relief of us . He does n’t have access to the orbit where the water is , he say , because it ’s run by FEMA .
However , Cruz Ramos said his municipality had enough water and solid food at the peak of the crisis . Around 700 to 800 mass would chitchat a local distribution center to cull up water and nutrient every twenty-four hour period in the consequence of the tempest , and the city manager would also hit the streets to give out further H2O . Once magnate returned to the region in March , he ended relief supply distribution endeavour .
“ I ’m thankful to FEMA and the U.S. government , ” he told Earther . “ I always had food and water supply to give the multitude , sometimes two cases of water for fellowship . ”
The same ca n’t be say for other distant constituent of the island where water distribution centers were something out of a fag story . Still , Cruz Ramos made a safe point that once this piddle was left in the sun even for a day or two , it was no longer safe to tope . The Caribbean sun is no laugh , and researcherscautionagainst drinking bottled H2O that ’s been left out in the service department or a car all day during the summer because of the chemicals that can leach from the plastic into the water . In Puerto Rico , summer never ends .
This intact mussiness get along on the heels of President Donald Trumpcallingthe U.S. reply to Hurricane Maria an “ unknown achiever . ” Whoever ’s at fault , thousands of water bottles abandoned on an island where masses have been struggling for calendar month to get at uninfected water is n’t on the nose what success looks like .
update : 9/13/18 , 2:30 p.m. ET : After a day of outrage , FEMA admitted to CBS News it had left the water bottles out since January as a cost - write measuring rod . It then went on to give the General Services Administration the water in April . The story has been update to admit this fresh data .
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