In this issue, we take an in-depth look at the current state of affairs in Puerto Rico, almost two years after the devastation wrought by hurricanes Irma and Maria. You should recall that these Category 5 and Category 4 storms, respectively, struck the island just 14 days apart and virtually knocked the island’s grid and practically all services out of commission for what would become an agonizingly long time for many of the island’s residents.
Disasters like this are rare, fortunately, but this series of events gives us an opportunity to take a look at our overall state of readiness and the response to such a widespread calamity. Since we often wonder how we would fare in such a situation, I think it is useful to investigate what life has been like for the victims who chose to remain on the island. Spoiler alert, one indication of how this recovery has gone is that, as I write this in early June 2019, the Federal government has yet to finalize the authorization of another $900 million for food subsidies and other disaster relief for Puerto Rico.
This begs the question, How long should you plan to be on your own before the effects of a major disaster are resolved and pre-event public services and supply chains are restored to normal? Unfortunately, it’s impossible to know the answer other than to say that each of our situations and types and levels of risk is different. Each needs to be assessed, and we should build our plans to address the most likely worst-case-scenario. This way, even though we could still be wrong if we suffer a true SHTF event, most other threats, including all of the more likely ones, should be covered well enough for us to endure them.