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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 21 March 2018

Needs go unmet 6 months after Maria hit Puerto Rico

By DANICA COTO er Authority, said he ex-
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) pects the entire island to
— Generators are still hum- have power by May, eight
ming. Candles are still flick- months after the Category
ering. Homes are still being 4 storm destroyed two-thirds
repaired. Puerto Rico was of the island's power distri-
hit by Hurricane Maria ex- bution system — and just as
actly six months ago, and the 2018 Atlantic hurricane
the U.S. territory is still strug- season is about to start.
gling to recover from the Gonzalez was replaced on
strongest storm to hit the is- Tuesday by Walter Higgins,
land in nearly a century. former president of a pow-
"There are a lot of people er company that provided
with needs," said Levid Or- electricity in Bermuda and
tiz, operating director of the Cayman Islands. Of-
PR4PR, a local nonprofit ficials in Puerto Rico have
that helps impoverished pledged to inspect dozens
communities across the is- of wooden and cement
land. "It shouldn't be like poles still leaning haphaz-
this. We should already be ardly across the island af-
back on our feet." ter a wooden telephone
Some 250 Puerto Ricans pole fell on a car. It killed
formed a line around him an elderly couple on Sun-
on a recent weekday, day as they returned from People affected by Hurricane Maria bathe in water piped from a creek in the mountains, in Nara-
standing for more than two a town fair in the mountains njito, Puerto Rico. In the six months since the hurricane, more than 135,000 people have fled to
hours to receive bottles of of western Puerto Rico. The the U.S. mainland, according to a recent estimate by the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter
College in New York.
water and a box of food at deaths of Luis Beltran, 62, (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
a public basketball court and Rosa Bosque, 60, have
in the mountain town of angered Puerto Ricans and that crews were going to when Hurricane Maria hit, to keep going.”
Corozal. Many of those raised concerns about the inspect poles across the but that he moved back The storm caused an es-
waiting were still without safety of people as they re- mountain town of Las Ma- three months ago to be timated $100 billion in
power, including 23-year- cover from the hurricane. rias to ensure they are in with family. damage, killed dozens of
old Keishla Quiles, a single "It worries me because ... good condition. Beltran’s “He was No. 1,” she said as people and damaged or
mother with a 4-year-old it can happen anywhere," youngest sister, Migdalia her voice cracked and she destroyed nearly 400,000
son who still buys ice every Mayor Edwin Soto told The Beltran, said her brother began to cry. “He was the homes, according to Puer-
day to fill a cooler to keep Associated Press, adding was living in New Jersey one who gave me support to Rico’s government.q
milk and other goods cold
amid rising temperatures. ICC:
"Since we're a family of few
resources, we have not Philippines withdrawal won't affect preliminary probe
been able to afford a gen-
erator," she said. "It's been By MIKE CORDER Last month, ICC prosecutor withdrawing the Philippine government journal as re-
hard living like this." THE HAGUE, Netherlands Fatou Bensouda, opened ratification of the Rome quired by law.
Crews already have re- (AP) — The Philippines' de- a preliminary examina- Statute, the treaty which On Tuesday, Duterte said in
stored water to 99 percent cision to leave the Inter- tion into a complaint by a created the ICC. Such a Manila he would question
of clients and power to 93 national Criminal Court will Filipino lawyer of suspected withdrawal comes into ef- the authority of anybody
percent of customers, but not derail an on-going pre- extrajudicial killings during fect after a year. who would travel to the
more than 100,000 of them liminary probe into possible President Rodrigo Duterte's Although the Philippine Philippines to investigate in
still remain in the dark and crimes committed during anti-drug campaign, which Senate ratified the Rome connection with the probe
there are frequent power Manila's war on drugs, the could amount to crimes Statute, Duterte said the under the ICC.
outages. Justo Gonzalez, court said Tuesday in its first against humanity. treaty was never enforced "What's your power ... the
former interim director for reaction to the Asian na- In response, Duterte an- in the country because it treaty? The treaty was not
Puerto Rico's Electric Pow- tion's withdrawal. nounced last week he was was not published in the published. q