Enduring Disasters: Puerto Rico, Three Years After Hurricane María

Puerto Rico has suffered the compounded effects of multiple disasters over the last three years: the devastating impacts of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017, recurrent seismic activity in the southwest region, including a magnitude 6.4 earthquake on January 7, 2020, the current COVID-19 pandemic; all underscored by a crushing debt crisis and a federally-mandated austerity regime since 2016. Multiple natural disasters have exacerbated vulnerability and poverty, and public energy, telecommunications, water, health, and transportation systems have greatly deteriorated and become even more vulnerable, causing systematic failures in social safety nets.