One reason that food prices are high on the island is that under the Jones Act, only U.S. ships carry food to the territory.
The Jones Act requires that only U.S. ships carry goods between U.S. ports. It also raises costs in Puerto Rico and elsewhere.
What will it take to make sure that Puerto Rico can fix its infrastructure to become more resilient?
Did wind or water cause the damage to their homes? That’s up to the insurance adjuster.
Emergency repairs were made after electricity network went down during Maria. But investments in resilience have been slow to come.
The storm destroyed 80% of the island’s coffee crop. It also revealed a hidden “gold mine.”
Entrepreneurs have endured natural disasters and political crises — and now COVID-19. “You have to be super, super tough,” a business owner says.
For Puerto Rico’s restaurant industry, COVID-19 is just the latest in a series of challenges.
Three years after Hurricane Maria destroyed Puerto Rico’s electric grid, the island is still dealing with unreliable service and intermittent power outages, especially in rural areas.
Sixty percent of the island’s population doesn’t have the resources to prepare for the storm, one expert says.