Connecticut leaders call on residents to support and speak up for Puerto Rico in wake of earthquake

The organization behind Hartford’s annual Puerto Rican Day Parade will serve as a clearing house for donations to the Puerto Rican earthquake relief effort, the group announced Friday during a news conference on the Connecticut’s response to the disaster.

The Connecticut Institute for Community Development has launched CTHelpsPR.org and will work with Lions Clubs International in Connecticut and Puerto Rico to distribute donations to those in need, institute board president Samuel Vega Jr. said, standing in Hartford City Hall alongside Mayor Luke Bronin and other city, state and federal leaders, including Gov. Ned Lamont and Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Major General Francis J. Evon of the Connecticut National Guard.

Blumenthal also shared that he’s called on airlines to keep flights affordable and accessible, and to stop the air travel price gouging that has followed Tuesday’s devastating, 6.4-magnitude earthquake in southwestern Puerto Rico. Blumenthal said one-way flights from San Juan to Hartford have cost up to $2,050 this week, though American Airlines and JetBlue have both agreed to cap prices for flights between the island and mainland for a period of time.

However, officials were silent on any plans to handle a potential wave of temporary and permanent relocations from the island to Hartford, Bridgeport and the state’s other Puerto Rican enclaves, which are among of the largest and most concentrated in the U.S. mainland. An estimated 13,300 people came to Connecticut after Hurricane Maria, according to a study by University of Connecticut Professor Charles Venator-Santiago, and public schools in the state absorbed about 2,000 displaced students.

The Hartford Public Schools have already enrolled two children this week who left Puerto Rico because of the earthquake, and the district is prepared to accept many more, district spokesman John Fergus said.

Vega said he was not prepared to comment on plans to deal with an influx of residents displaced or motivated by the earthquake and the hundreds of aftershocks still rumbling across Puerto Rico this week, just two years after the island was devastated by the deadliest Atlantic storm in nearly 20 years, Hurricane Maria.

The most successful aspect of the region’s response to Maria was the one-stop shop hurricane relief center that the Capital Region Education Council, or CREC, operated from about December 2017 to March 2018, said Venator-Santiago.. Opening another center is critical for helping newcomers fill out government paperwork for FEMA aid and benefits, and obtain everything from housing and job assistance to children’s clothes, Venator-Santiago said.

However, the CREC relief center didn’t stick around long enough, he added, recommending local governments help operate such resources for at least six to eight months.

"Overall, Hartford’s response was well-intentioned, it was well-meaning, but it was not clear to me they understood what needed to happen,” he said.

Aura Alvarado, CREC’s director of communications and community relations, agrees another physical center is needed.

“It should never have closed to begin with,” Alvarado said. “All the community leaders should have come together to say, ‘This model is working, let’s figure out how to keep it going.’”

Working with numerous nonprofits and agencies, CREC provided arriving families with on-site access to social services, transportation, bilingual case management, identification cards, English as a Second Language class referrals and backpack donations for kids. The Charter Oak Health Center, Catholic Charities Institute of the Hispanic Family, and other organizations addressed healthcare and insurance needs.

But without enough financial support, the hurricane relief center ran out of money and had to give up its temporary space after about three months, long before it would have run out of clients, she said.

“This is like deja vu,” she said. “I know CREC has a plan ready to go if someone wants to take it on, we’re happy to lead and help. I expect if things don’t improve, we’re gonna have an influx of people coming here. We will definitely roll up our sleeves and do what we have to do.”

City, state and national officials didn’t offer information about handling relocating residents. Instead, they echoed a call to action from individuals across the state.

“Prayers are good. Hopes are good. Step up, and the state of Connecticut is ready to step up,” Lamont said.

“We are standing and asking everyone to step up," Bronin said, “and [do the] best you can, with whatever means you can, to support the people who continue to suffer in Puerto Rico in the wake of these earthquakes and the continued damage of those hurricanes years ago."

They also directed criticism to President Donald J. Trump, who has declared a national emergency in Puerto Rico but hasn’t publicly commented on the natural disaster. Blumenthal noted that Puerto Rico has only received $1.5 billion in FEMA aid for Hurricane Maria and its aftermath, which left nearly 3,000 people dead.

Now facing another disaster, he and Bronin said Puerto Rico should receive the same treatment as if the earthquakes had struck near Trump Tower in New York City, or Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.

“These people deserve nothing less,” Bronin said.

Rebecca Lurye can be reached at rlurye@courant.com.

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