Since yesterday, Hurricane Fiona has been causing catastrophic rains, landslides, overflowing rivers, roads blocked by debris, and much more damage. Our electricity grid is still so extremely fragile that this new storm provoked an island-wide blackout and left most people without running water.

Five years ago, after Hurricane María, the Center for a new Economy (CNE) switched gears rapidly and started the Puerto Rico Recovery Fund (PRRF) in order to help people and businesses directly. We are proud of the work we did back then, and we are ready to act again. We’ve established communications with the PRRF’s distribution centers across the island. As soon as they can assess damages and we have more information about immediate needs we will determine the best course of action.

CNE is at the forefront of the recovery process. Our research and analyses show that the reconstruction of our  infrastructure needs to improve drastically. Puerto Rico‘s energy system must respond to our reality as a Caribbean archipelago vulnerable to hurricanes every year. Housing that is both affordable and safe is also a priority. We have the experts and the capacity to lead this process, but there are considerable coordination and execution failures that have hampered Puerto Rico’s ability to achieve this.

As we face the repercussions from another severe natural disaster, at CNE we renew our conviction of working relentlessly to achieve the implementation of long-term solutions that benefit us all. Puerto Rico deserves it.

Very truly yours,