Most recently, aftershocks in early May – the largest was magnitude 5.4 – caused damage in the municipalities of Guánica and Guayanilla and near the larger city of Ponce.

The quakes devastated La Luna. “We had never experienced a thing like this,” William Ducós, a La Luna resident, told Direct Relief staff in Spanish. “It felt like everything was falling. You could not walk. You could not even move… Everything was dark when I went out and one of the balconies of one of the houses had fallen down in the middle of the road. My neighbors were crying because they had lost their house.”

Direct Relief staff members traveling to the neighborhood in mid-May found that many of the community’s houses had either been destroyed or were badly damaged and surrounded by debris.

“It’s house after house after house, completely collapsed,” said Ivonne Rodriguez-Wiewall, Direct Relief’s Puerto Rico advisor.

Most of those houses were marked with a spray-painted red X, indicating that the house was structurally unsound and people should no longer enter. Less-destroyed houses were marked in yellow, indicating “Enter with caution.”

And a number of people were living in tents or temporary wooden structures in front of their damaged homes. Others were sleeping in cars or nearby parks, or had moved in with family elsewhere – all in the midst of the Covid-19 lockdown. (The lockdown is now lifting on various aspects of Puerto Rican life.)

Living outside or in cramped conditions was concerning enough during the pandemic, Rodriguez-Wiewall said. “But now hurricane season is starting,” she pointed out. “They cannot be inside their house. They cannot be outside their house. These people are not safe.”

Rafael Gómez Román, a resident of La Luna, built his house himself, beginning with a small wooden structure that evolved over time into a sturdy cement home. His three daughters were born there. When the quakes hit, Gómez’s house was for sale – his wife, who has Alzheimer’s disease, needed care and could no longer live there.

Asked about living through the earthquakes, Gómez said, “Painful. In six seconds, losing everything one has.”

Rafael Espinoza Hijo’s house was marked with a yellow X. Espinoza lived there with his father and grandmother until the quakes. In front of the house was a small wooden module where Espinoza’s father, who uses a wheelchair, now sleeps. “We had to make the little house outside…because here it shakes every day,” he said in Spanish.

Espinoza still sleeps inside the house, reasoning that he can evacuate more quickly if needed. And his days are spent taking care of his father. “Now because of the earthquakes, I cannot travel to work because I am taking care of him. It’s not easy,” he said. “[Hurricane] Maria, earthquakes, and now Covid.”

Ducós had retired from Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources in December of last year. “I said to myself, ‘Now I have my retirement and my house.’ And then, on January 7, I didn’t have a house,” he said.

Even in Puerto Rico, Rodriguez-Wiewall said, the people affected by the most recent earthquakes aren’t top of mind. “It’s forgotten and the news has already moved on to Covid,” she said.

According to Rodriguez-Wiewall, when the quakes were extensively covered in local news, large numbers of people and organizations brought aid to the south. Between the lockdown and the news cycle, the picture has changed.

Traveling to La Luna to assess the needs of the people living there, she said, “they are just happy…just to have us there and have somebody to talk to. Just to have somebody to listen to them.”

But despite the loss of his house, Ducós was optimistic. “I am a person who tries to help others,” he said. “The important thing is that we are alive. It takes [a lot] to start everything from scratch. We have no other choice.”

Ana Umpierre contributed reporting to this story.

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Direct Relief, with support from companies such as Amazon, is providing PPE, tents for triage and testing, intensive-care unit supplies, and equipment such as ventilators and video laryngoscopes to hospitals and health centers throughout Puerto Rico.

The organization is also funding testing initiatives, including in senior care centers and drive-through testing sites. 

Responding to both the pandemic and the earthquake, the organization is coordinating a new telehealth initiative aimed at connecting 200,000 patients to safety net providers.

Direct Relief is also supplying “go bags” for emergency needs to employees of health centers in southern Puerto Rico. The organization is continuing to monitor the situation and is considering further interventions.

The post Neither Inside or Out: A Puerto Rican Neighborhood Devastated by Earthquakes Confronts Covid-19 appeared first on Direct Relief.

Since Jan. 27, Direct Relief has sent to hospitals in China a total of 572,000 N95 and surgical masks.

The recipients in China include the largest hospitals in the three cities with the highest reported incidence of coronavirus—Wuhan, Xiaogan and Huanggang. The three cities are all located in Hubei Province, where more than 19,000 cases of novel coronavirus have been reported. Items in Thursday’s shipments will also be directed to local agencies in neighboring Chongqing.

A number of prominent U.S. private sector companies and foundations are channeling their China assistance through Direct Relief. The HP Foundation on Monday donated $1 million to the effort, with other large cash donations coming from Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Grandstream Networks. 3M and Amazon have donated large quantities of personal protective gear.

All emergency shipments to China since Jan. 27 have been sent via FedEx, which has donated its transportation and logistics services to deliver the aid. Deliveries are being coordinated with support from Wuhan United, a group of Chinese Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area who have been mobilizing support to fight coronavirus in Wuhan.

“We are extremely grateful for Direct Relief and FedEx for their fast response and generous help with the fight against coronavirus,” said Tom Gong, president of Wuhan United. “Thanks to the joint efforts, we were able to quickly clear customs and transport supplies directly to hospitals in Wuhan through our extensive network of alumni, supporters and volunteers in China.”

Direct Relief is focusing its efforts on helping China’s medical workers protect themselves from the fast-spreading disease.

Meanwhile, hospital officials have told Direct Relief they don’t expect to receive any additional protective equipment from their usual suppliers until next month. Direct Relief has received additional requests for supplies from over 35 hospitals in 19 cities in China.

Direct Relief is allocating protective gear from its pre-existing strategic reserve while working to procure new protective gear from manufacturers and distributors, all of which are ramping up production to meet the increased demand. The shipments to China include only items that have been selected by receiving hospitals and organizations, are suitable for use in the current situation, and approved for import by the Chinese government.

The cumulative total of the shipments has comprised about two-thirds of the masks Direct Relief had in reserve at the start of the year. It will apportion out much of the rest to hospitals in China, pending distribution channels remaining open, while reserving inventories to address needs that could emerge in California, which has reported six confirmed cases, and elsewhere.

“We realized quickly it would be hard to replenish our supplies due to the global shortage of personal protective equipment, so we’re looking at how we allocate as much as possible to these hospitals for immediate needs, while retaining the ability to respond to emerging needs and simultaneously replenishing inventories,” said Andrew MacCalla, Direct Relief’s VP of emergency response. He noted that the initial focus has been on hospitals in Hubei province, where the epidemic began and has by far the most reported cases. “The scenario planning is very dynamic as information changes daily.”

Thursday’s shipment included more than 250,000 N95 protective breathing masks and more than 340,000 protective gloves, along with shoe covers, fluid-resistant coveralls, gowns and more. The 77 pallets being shipped weigh 22,000 lbs.

“With the intensified activity in response to a declared global health emergency, it’s important to remember that the numbers of cases and activity being reported are about people,” said MacCalla. “We want the people in China who are facing a scary situation to know how many people are concerned about their welfare and are doing everything possible to help.”

The post U.S. Private Sector Backing China’s Coronavirus Fight appeared first on Direct Relief.