Category: Puerto Rico News

Education Is The Key To Caribbean Dive Groups Working Together to Promote, Protect Coral Reef Excursions

BRIDGETOWN — Tourists must be educated to know which are the safest times to visit the region. And also which areas are least likely to face a catastrophic storm. Dive groups are trying to assuage tourists’ fears regarding hurricanes and inclement weather to increase tourism to the region. The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) […]

CONTROL BOARD: Puerto Rico Needs ‘Unprecedented’ United States Help To Recover From Hurricane Maria

[ad name=”HTML-68″] SAN JUAN — Puerto Rico has suffered such extensive devastation from Hurricane Maria that its recovery will fail unless the island gets more United States help. That’s the word from Natalie Jaresko, executive director of a federal control board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances. Jaresko tells Congress that the U.S. commonwealth needs emergency […]

Curacao, Jamaica The Biggest Winners In The No-Storms Sweepstakes This Tourism Season … Cruises Diverted There

WILLEMSTAD — Hurricanes Irma and Maria have seen the Caribbean revise its projected tourism growth down to just one to two percent for 2017. The Caribbean Tourism Organization revealed latest figures at the World Tourism Market (WTM) that showed tourism to the region grew by 5.2 percent year-on-year in the six months to June 2017, […]

UNITED NATIONS: Caribbean and Latin American Countries Need To Mitigate Risks of Disasters … Before Hurricanes and Earthquakes Strike

SAN JUAN — Integrating disaster risk management into development policies will minimize damage and loss incurred from natural disasters. This is according to a timely publication released by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), following on the heels of hurricanes Irma and Maria, which devastated several Caribbean islands during the […]

Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico Can’t Call The United Nations For Help After Major Disasters … Like Hurricanes Irma and Maria

[ad name=”HTML-68″] SAN JUAN — After Hurricane Irma and then Maria tore through the Caribbean islands, the United Nations swung into action with helicopters, food drops and multimillion-dollar recovery plans. But even though both Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands were decimated by the hurricanes, they couldn’t call the U.N. – an expert in disaster […]

STUDY: Coastal Areas In The Caribbean And Latin America Particularly Vulnerable To Natural Disasters

SANTA CRUZ — The catastrophic 2017 hurricane season provided ample demonstrations of the vulnerability of populations and infrastructure in coastal areas to natural disasters. A new study by scientists at the University of California Santa Cruz and the University of Cantabria, Spain, identifies hotspots of coastal risks throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. Published November […]

Verizon Pledges $5 Million In Disaster Relief Support For The Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico

[ad name=”HTML-68″] NEW YORK — Following the devastation Hurricanes Irma and Maria wrought on Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in September, Verizon announced an initial pledge of $1 million to help with recovery efforts. Shortly following Hurricane Maria, and learning of the magnitude of the damage left by the storm, Verizon pledged an additional $4 million and a commitment to identify organizations […]

Displaced By Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rican Teachers Face Challenges On The U.S. Mainland

[ad name=”HTML-68″]   WASHINGTON — With many teachers among the thousands of residents fleeing Puerto Rico for the mainland after Hurricane Maria, school districts in Florida, Texas and New York say they are working to streamline the certification process in the hopes of adding Puerto Rican teachers to their classrooms. But for many of the […]

DISH Network Says Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico Won’t Be Charged For The Time They’re Not Getting The Signal

GUAYNABO, Puerto Rico — Following the worst hurricane to hit Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in nearly a century, DISH is responding to serve customers and communities impacted by the storm. “The damage from Hurricane Maria has been unimaginable, and we want to make it clear to our customers that they will not […]

GUEST EDITORIAL: The Disaster of Disaster Reconstruction: Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico Are Prime Examples

[ad name=”HTML-68″] By STEPHEN COHEN Columbia University’s Earth Institute NEW YORK — Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands continue to struggle in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane season, and here in New York we recently marked the fifth anniversary of “Superstorm” Sandy. Before Hurricane Maria we saw Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and the […]