Less Hurricane Aid, Slower Response to Puerto Rico than to Texas, Florida
New Research from Charley Willison and Scott Greer
The federal response to hurricanes Harvey and Irma was faster and more generous than
the help sent to Puerto Rico in preparation and in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria,
according to University of Michigan researchers.
"What we found is that there was a very significant difference in not only the timing
of the responses but also in the volume of resources distributed in terms of money
and staffing," said lead author Charley Willison, a doctoral candidate at the University
of Michigan's School of Public Health.
"Overall, Hurricane Maria had a delayed and lower response across those measures compared
to hurricanes Harvey and Irma. It raises concern for growth in health disparities
as well as potential increases in adverse health outcomes."
For example, within nine days of the landfall of both Harvey and Irma, survivors had
received nearly $100 million in FEMA dollars, while María survivors had received slightly
over $6 million.
"The analysis shows that the disaster response to the three hurricanes did not align with storm severity and may affect deaths and recovery rates."
Staffing efforts also fell short, the report notes. At its peak, federal personnel
on-site for Hurricane Harvey in Texas reached 31,000 people, while 40,000 responded
to Irma in Florida during the first 180 days post-hurricane. By comparison, at its
peak during the same period, there were 19,000 federal personnel on-site helping with
the recovery of Hurricane Maria.
In addition, it took four months for disaster appropriation funding to Puerto Rico
to reach the levels that Texas and Florida received in two months.
"The analysis shows that the disaster response to the three hurricanes did not align
with storm severity and may affect deaths and recovery rates," Willison said.
Scott Greer, University of Michigan professor of health management and policy and of global public
health, said the findings are important because "not only was the lack of emergency
response a likely contributor to thousands of avoidable deaths, it was also a reminder
of the penalties of not being fully represented in federal politics. Democracy is
a public health policy."
The study will be published in the British Medical Journal Global Health. For the
analysis, researchers used publicly available data from the Federal Emergency Management
Authority, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the Puerto Rican
government and George Washington University.
Additional authors included Melissa Creary, University of Michigan professor of health
management and policy, and Phillip Singer, assistant professor of political science
at the University of Utah.