Donald Trump Signs $16 Billion In Federal Disaster Aid To Puerto Rico

On Friday, Puerto Rico announced it will receive close to $16 billion in federal aid under the disaster recovery package signed by President Donald Trump, Reuters reported.

The aid comes as a relief for the hurricane ravaged U.S. territory after months of hardship wrought by the worst natural disaster to hit the region in 90 years.

Although U.S. promised funding to the island which is a United States territory, the aid has been very slow in coming to the region in throes of crisis due to a rapid increase in its poverty rate.

The money is slated to help the bankrupt country currently $120 billion in debt, to recover from Hurricane Maria.

According to reports, the money is to include the $7 billion in aid announced on Wednesday. A statement issued on Wednesday from Gov. Ricardo Rossello and Jenniffer Gonzalez, Puerto Rico’s nonvoting member of the U.S. Congress, said Puerto Rico will reportedly receive $4.9 billion to get its medical systems on track and another $2 billion as a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program to restore and fix its electric grid that was destroyed during the hurricane resulting in millions of people living in darkness for months following the event.

However, according to a later statement issued by the Governor on Friday, Puerto Rico’s aid has partially increased with a reported $11 billion going towards the CDBG program and the rest to be used towards helping local businesses and building new homes on the island.

Hurricane Maria that swept through Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, 2017, killed dozens and left people without power for several days along with limited access to clean water, medicine and food. Earlier reports alleged the Federal Emergency Management Agency was going to cease aid after power was restored on the Caribbean island, which is still left without any access to basic amenities.

According to Reuters the aid merely scratches the surface of the funds required to the get the decrepit island back on its feet. Rossello said on Friday the island would require at least $94 billion dollars to recover from the almost irreparable damage sustained during the hurricane.

The Governor has asked Congress to provide more funds to recover from the damage to its infrastructure and housing stock. The Governor asked Congress for $46 billion in CDBG funding alone. The poverty rate in the island has exponentially increased by around 46 percent aiding to hundreds of thousands of sub-standard informal homes constructed to put a makeshift roof over people's heads. The houses are built without permits and in squatter communities, reports said.