Hurricane Maria

Diego E. Ruiz Ruperto

Professor Cynthia Pittmann

Intermediate English 3103 -134

30 November 2017

Hurricane Maria

Hurricane Maria brought things that neither me, my parents nor my grandparents had seen before. The island was completely paralyzed, finding potable water and food were a struggle, and dozens of people lost their lives due to the effects and damages caused by the hurricane. At the same time, I experienced a reality that gave me lessons for a lifetime. We had to go “old fashion” with communication since nobody had cellular signal or Internet. We learned to be in “survival mode” and live with less. We saw the power of nature on us, it took trees, houses, bridges and structures.  It made us realize that you have to live life at its fullest everyday. Hurricane Maria brought a new reality to my life. Decisions that impact my future greatly had to be taken in moments. The stress over when we would recover consumed my daily thoughts and energies. We were all exposed to things that we have to live to believe and I lived this one from the beginning.

The day after Hurricane Maria many were stuck in their houses and/or communities. I was no exception. On the way to my house there were a lot of large old trees that fell on the road. Since many people were blocked from the road, we had to make a way to get out in case of any emergency. The weeks after Maria were tough. Nobody had electricity unless they had a power generator. Still, people and even businesses did not turn them on because they couldn't find gasoline or diesel to run them. Gasoline for cars was also scarce, which affected our transportation. Since we weren't able to watch the news because of the problems with telecommunications, people didn't know what was happening outside so they prefered to avoid going into the unknown. All these factors were the perfect combination to make people stay inside their house because of fear of what could be in the outside. Around two or three weeks after Maria, my family and I encountered a senior woman and her husband whom we know from a long time ago. She said to us, “This is the first time I come out of my house since the hurricane, everything seems so different, the destruction is incredible.” I also prefered to stay at home because rumors were that thieves were assaulting a lot and since the police couldn't do anything, everybody was more precautious.

Never in my life had I imagined that finding food or potable water would be a problem even if you had money. In my house, we had supplies for a couple of days and when a market opened we went and bought a lot of food. Another problem with buying was that people were used to the modern ways of paying with credit or debit cards and with no Internet those machines didn't work. Since the ATM ‘s weren't open, people had to make more with less. The lines for food places, to find water and to withdraw money from a bank account lasted for hours, worsening even more the situation because these lines caused panic on the people.

There isn't one material thing that can even compare to a loss of a life, this is actually the part I consider the worst of the hurricane. Many people who depended on specific medicines like oxygen tanks or insulin injection had a VERY hard time and many also died. I can number with first and last name at least ten people who died in this period of time.

The hurricane brought hard times but we have power and are recovering in a way that will make us stronger than ever before. We are now simpler and more humanitarian people because we have lived with our own eyes, minds and bodies the hit of a catastrophic event like a category 4 or 5 (personal category doubt) hurricane. I think most people saw how fragile life can be, and we know better than ever to live life at its fullest because what was a very planned and organized year was completely changed by something not one of us can control. For this reason, we have to be happy, thankful and work our hardest for every day of life that we get. I am more than ever motivated to study and make a better Puerto Rico with the knowledge that I now have and the learning I will go in the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras Campus.  

Works Cited

Amador, Raul. Personal Interview. 29 Sept 2017

Gonzalez, Carmen. Personal Interview. 6 Oct 2017

Ruiz, Diego Narrative essay on Hurricane Maria Class Assignment UPRRP 28 Nov 2017