“The fifteenth tropical depression of the Atlantic hurricane season turned into tropical storm Maria on Saturday and threatened the Caribbean islands devastated a little over a week ago by Hurricane Irma,” the National Hurricane Center (CNH) said in Miami.
At this warning, the Puerto Ricans on the island, already weakened by Hurricane Irma, began to prepare as best they could, while from here on the safety of dry land, those who have relatives and friends there and feel for that small island were preparing for the worst.
And the worst thing happened. We lost communication with the island. Then we learned the cause. Most of the radial towers had been knocked down by the force of the wind. And not only that, they were left in the dark for the same reason; the electric poles were shot down. Bridges were dragged by the force of rivers leaving roads unable to reach their destination.
We recall the recent damage caused by Hurricane Harvey in Texas and the City of Houston in particular, as well as Hurricane Irma in Florida, which weakened Puerto Rico as it passed through the Caribbean and how aid to those areas began to flow immediately from different points of the country. The advantage is that the aid was coming from the mainland, but how do you get to La Isla del Encanto right away with so many miles of oceans in between?
Without fear of making a mistake, we dare to assure that Lawrence was the first city in the whole country to react to the disaster suffered by the Island of Puerto Rico. We remember how the citizens reacted to the Haiti earthquake in 2010 that left a capital city in ruins and thousands of deaths and more than once due to disasters in the Dominican Republic, so we believe that the City of Lawrence not only has gained the respect from other communities in helping others, but how to get the help to their destination.
This theory is supported by the fact that the cities of Cambridge, Chelsea, Haverhill, Lowell, Lynn, Waltham and Worcester have chosen the Distribution Center set up at 530 Broadway to send all the proceeds in those cities to join them to the Lawrence’s.
From these pages we salute the men and women who have dedicated and continue dedicating their valuable time to work in these just causes. ¡May God bless you!
