Puerto Ricans Enraged at Finding Warehouse Full of Hurricane Maria Aid

Gov. Wanda Vasquez fires the director of island's emergency management after people discovered a warehouse full of unused emergency aid that led Puerto Ricans to outrage, NBC News reports.

Puerto Ricans in the southern part of the island discovered a warehouse filled with unused emergency aids like bottles of water, cots, and other emergency supplies. This led to a social media uproar as the people in the area struggle to recover from the recent earthquakes that devastated the island.

Gov. Wanda Vasquez immediately fired Carlos Acevedo, the director of island's emergency management, after a video of the incident was posted on Facebook. Vasquez said that she already ordered an in-depth investigation after they found that the supplies had been there since 2017 during the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

Meanwhile, Gov. Vasquez appointed Maj. Gen. Jose J. Reyes to replace Acevedo. Maj. Gen. Reyes is the adjutant of the island's National Guard.

It was on Saturday when people found the warehouse filled with emergency boxes in the city of Ponce. Several people were seen opening the warehouse and asked the authorities to distribute the emergency supplies as soon as possible. Families then began lining up the same afternoon hoping to receive a bottle of water and other emergency supplies.

According to a statement released by Acevedo through the office of the emergency management, there was no mishandling issue in distributing the supplies. Further, he also denied all allegations against him and said that no one was deprived of supplies, food, water, diapers, or anything else.

When asked about the pallets of water found inside the Warehouse, he said that they have distributed 600 pallets of water after the island was hit by Hurricanes Dorian and Karen and the remaining nearly 80 pallets of water found inside the Warehouse were expired.

Acevedo also clarified that there not have been orders to destroy or seize those items. Moreover, Gov. Vasquez ordered an in-depth investigation about this matter to the island's Secretary of State Elmer Roman and directed to reveal his investigation within 48 hours.

Gov. Vasquez said: "There are thousands of people who made sacrifices to bring aid to the south and it's unforgivable that resources have been kept in a warehouse."

Puerto Rico was devastated by series of earthquakes since Dec. 28 and one of it was even described by the people as the island's earthquake of the decade. The earthquakes and its series of aftershocks led to the destruction of structures in the country and even displaced hundreds of families.

Meanwhile, aside from the supplies that they get from the government, there are also non-profit and non-government organizations that have been helping Puerto Ricans in any way as previously reported in Latin Post. Likewise, Airbnb is also offering free temporary shelter through its program to the displaced individuals and relief workers.

At present, there are more than 8,000 individuals who are living right now in the temporary shelters found in the cities of Yauco, Penuelas, Guanica, Guayanilla, and Ponce. Some of the displaced individuals are afraid to go home because of the fear that their house might collapse anytime.