From Our President: On the Ground Post-Earthquakes

I arrived in my home town to celebrate Three Kings Day, our special holiday that tributes the three wise men. That evening, we had our first earthquake. When I asked my Mom, what it was she responded, “The ground has been shaking for the last few months.” On January 7, the Southwest of Puerto Rico was struck by 6.4 magnitude earthquake, the strongest of a series of quakes and the most powerful to hit the island in over a century leading to an island-wide power outage, limited water service, and school closures.

Thousands of families are in shelters because their homes were destroyed or they fear of them collapsing while they sleep. Puerto Rico’s governor has declared a state of emergency. Thousands of students are out of school and at least 500 schools could collapse after the recent seismic activity. Due to school closures, thousands of students are not going to school. This is extremely worrisome as many schools have been closed due to Hurricane Maria in 2017. Families are once again living without power or access to clean water, sleeping in tents, under the sun and the 90-degree weather. Many without any hope of knowing if they will be able to return to their homes or how to rebuild it. Many homes were built informally and don't have insurance.

Our organization, Friends of Puerto Rico who supports the economic development of the people of Puerto Rico through entrepreneurial initiatives, education, and creating opportunities for women and girls has launched the SEEDS Fund.

Funds raised will be directed towards students that survived both Hurricane María and the recent earthquakes to allow for their education to carry on despite these unfortunate events. Your donations will allow us to continue our education programs, mentoring them and teaching them leadership and life skills. It will provide students an alternate safe location, healthy meals, school materials and supplies lost in the schools due to the earthquake. 

We invite you support our Facebook fundraiser to help women and children after the earthquake.