100 days since the lights went out.
The government's first goal was to have electricity restored to 90 % of the island by December 1. When it became obvious that wasn't going to happen, they changed the goal to 95% by Christmas. We're not even close. With just two days left in the year, less than 50 % of the island has restored power.
Still, we don't have it so bad.
Today was our friends Heather and Ivan's Christmas party. I met Heather's friend Francine. Francine now lives in Arizona but she's originally from Dominica, one of my favorite islands. It's a very poor island, dependent a lot (I think) on tourism. In recent years Dominicans have carved a niche in eco-tourism, trying to take advantage of the island's incredible beauty without destroying it.
A photo from the Dominican jungle when we were there in 2004.
Francine said the island is devastated. Her parents left to go to Antigua to live with her sister. She said more than 90 % of the people on the island are still living under tarps and have no water or electricity.
I have a friend on Flickr, a scuba diver and photographer, who lives on Dominica. His description of what happened in Dominica: "A bit like watching your clothing in the machine on spin cycle." I haven't heard from him for a while so I don't know if they got power back yet. He didn't expect it before now at least. As he said, "no [power] poles left standing."
Dominica is such a beautiful island and so different from Puerto Rico. I really feel for those people.
Of course there are reports that there are areas in the mountains here - Utuado, Orocovis, Morovis - that have yet to see any organized relief from any organization, e.g., Pr government, FEMA, Army, etc. Once again relief is coming from individuals and community organizations like Ciudad de Salvacion. I would really like to drive up into the mountains to see.
No rain today.
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