The situation in Puerto Rico now ... fits the true definition of a large-scale emergency. Many neighborhoods are flooded with deep water. Streets are blocked. For poor people, their simple houses have waist-deep water throughout the dwelling. The same goes for a lot of local markets. Under these conditions, people will run out of fresh drinking water very quickly. And they cannot use the normal bathroom system. So the hazard of water-borne illness will grow rapidly.

There needs to be a massive airlift to PR. Especially for basic things - water purification and blankets. But that task is not easy for a population over 3 million.

If folks here want to give some thought to "true survival" ... the situation in PR fits the definition.

I agree and fear that we have not really begun to understand the scope of what is needed. IMO, disease is the major threat. I am mindful that after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, there was a cholera outbreak that killed thousands and sickened thousands more.

The destruction of so much infrastructure on Puerto Rico, the lack of clean water, etc., seems to me to be a set up for a plague of water borne disease that will make Haiti's 2010 outbreak look like a minor incident. Major efforts appear necessary now, but don't seem to be gearing up.

If I am not mistaken, I believe several US Navy vessels set sail yesterday for Puerto Rico for relief assistance. Not sure of the details, just what I gleaned from a brief news bulletin yesterday.

try to imagine a system which provides 6 million meals a day...

news today that a large dam in PR has failed. this will spill a lot more flood water down canyons and through neighborhoods.

While I don't know the scale of the US military response in Puerto Rico, I did read that National Guard assets were on the ground within less than 24 hours after the hurricane hit.

The Mayor was saying they are expecting to be without electricity for four to six months.

Believe WHO have an emergency stock pile of cholera vaccine, as part of the lessons learnt from Haiti.

not a lot of news. the Natl Guard appears to be doing an excellent job - helping people to evacuate dangerous areas.

I don't know if the situation with cholera vaccines has changed. in the old days they were not very effective - at most some limited protection from cholera. but even some protection is better than none.

what Puerto Rico needs badly are the special teams with expertise in water purification. The Gov't of Austria has such a team. Other countries might have them too.

NEWS ... Puerto Rico set back by 20-30 years after Hurricane Maria. What a huge blow this is, coming on top of an ongoing economic crisis on the island.

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico's nonvoting representative in the U.S. Congress said Sunday that Hurricane Maria's destruction has set the island back decades, even as authorities worked to assess the extent of the damage.

"The devastation in Puerto Rico has set us back nearly 20 to 30 years," said Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez. "I can't deny that the Puerto Rico of now is different from that of a week ago. The destruction of properties, of flattened structures, of families without homes, of debris everywhere. The island's greenery is gone."

desperation in Puerto Rico ...

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hot-iso...ocid=spartandhp

UPDATE MONDAY 25 SEP, 2017

Puerto Rico's hospitals in Critical Condition ...

http://www.reuters.com/video/2017/09/25/...oChannel=118169

I hope and pray that in solving the problems, that we recognize that there is an opportunity not to be wasted. By that I mean that we do not simply rebuild the old technology and infrastructure that has been destroyed, but look to technologies that can provide the same, or better, services that were there before, but also provide greater reliability/"robustness" to disruptions in the future. What are those technologies? I don't know, but one thing that is clear to me is that power generation needs to be more widely distributed, as opposed to our very centralized system that we have now. IMO, long transmission lines are a vulnerability that we should start to be eliminating our dependence on.