Report: FEMA Removed Information On Puerto Rico Crisis From Website
- 7 years ago
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, is being accused of changing its Puerto Rico disaster relief website in order to make the recovery effort appear more positive than it is.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, is being accused of changing its Puerto Rico disaster relief website in order to make the recovery effort appear more positive than it is.
“On Oct. 4, data on how many Puerto Ricans had access to power and clean water were available on FEMA’s website — but the next day, they weren’t," according to a VIce News report.
Archived records from an outside monitoring group show the changes that were made: On October 4, FEMA had listed 50 percent of residents as having access to drinking water; on October 5, the agency replaced that information with a single statistic about waste water treatment plants; two days later, on October 7, the drinking water figure--which had reached 55.5 percent--was included in a different section called “Survivor Impacts.”
Vice News was critical of the changes, stating, “The adding and removing of statistics on the FEMA website obscures the status of recovery efforts on the island.”
Some lawmakers have also spoken out about the potential impropriety, with Representative Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) telling Vox, “I am outraged by the lack of transparency.”
“We have seen President Trump focus more on his public perception than on actually providing life-saving food, water, electricity, and medical aid to the Puerto Rican people whose lives are on the line," she added.
While FEMA officials have not given a reason for the website changes, agency spokesman William Booher has pointed out that the statistics in question are still being reported on a Puerto Rican government website as well as to the media.
As of October 11, the drinking water figure--which has risen to 64 percent--remains listed under the “Survivor Impacts” section of FEMA’s main Hurricane Maria webpage.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, is being accused of changing its Puerto Rico disaster relief website in order to make the recovery effort appear more positive than it is.
“On Oct. 4, data on how many Puerto Ricans had access to power and clean water were available on FEMA’s website — but the next day, they weren’t," according to a VIce News report.
Archived records from an outside monitoring group show the changes that were made: On October 4, FEMA had listed 50 percent of residents as having access to drinking water; on October 5, the agency replaced that information with a single statistic about waste water treatment plants; two days later, on October 7, the drinking water figure--which had reached 55.5 percent--was included in a different section called “Survivor Impacts.”
Vice News was critical of the changes, stating, “The adding and removing of statistics on the FEMA website obscures the status of recovery efforts on the island.”
Some lawmakers have also spoken out about the potential impropriety, with Representative Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) telling Vox, “I am outraged by the lack of transparency.”
“We have seen President Trump focus more on his public perception than on actually providing life-saving food, water, electricity, and medical aid to the Puerto Rican people whose lives are on the line," she added.
While FEMA officials have not given a reason for the website changes, agency spokesman William Booher has pointed out that the statistics in question are still being reported on a Puerto Rican government website as well as to the media.
As of October 11, the drinking water figure--which has risen to 64 percent--remains listed under the “Survivor Impacts” section of FEMA’s main Hurricane Maria webpage.