62-year-old Lucila lost her home in the January 7 quake in Puerto Rico. Red Cross workers provided her with financial assistance to cover her basic needs. Red Cross photo by Isaac Leon.
One month after the massive quake that shook the island of Puerto Rico, people are still on edge as earthquakes continue, including a magnitude 5 earthquake that hit earlier this week. It was the 11th earthquake of at least that size in 30 days, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The American Red Cross is there, supporting people impacted by the ongoing tremors.
The emotional toll caused by the quakes is evident with more than a thousand people remaining in the government-run shelters. Others are staying outside because of their fear that another tremor will hit. Many of the communities are still recovering from Hurricanes Maria and Irma.
Right now, donations to the Red Cross are helping people like Lucila, who lost her home in the January 7 quake.
“I AM GOING TO LIVE ONE DAY AT A TIME”
With these words, 62-year-old Lucila reflected on the home that she lost on January 7, 2020 due to a 6.4 magnitude earthquake. Since she couldn’t stay in her home, she moved to the home of her daughter’s family in Ponce for a couple of days.
“I have everything inside, I have not been able to get anything out…but I understood quickly that in these times, my life does not depend on my home”, she said. After this earthquake she has learned not to have attachments to material things.
For thirty years, Lucila worked as a school principal in four schools in Yauco. She still remembers the Red Cross campaigns as a child and made sure to continue supporting the Red Cross while serving as the principal in the schools where she worked. Ironically, now in retirement, Lucila receives help from the Red Cross.
Recently, she received a visit from Red Cross workers who provided her with a financial assistance card to cover her basic needs. When asked if this assistance is helpful, she responded that she will use the money to replace some clothes for herself and her family, and boxes to store her things.
WHAT THE RED CROSS IS DOING
More than 200 trained Red Cross disaster workers are still on the ground, supporting people staying in government shelters, distributing items like blankets, water and hygiene kits, and offering health and mental health services. To further care for the health and wellbeing of those affected, Red Cross volunteers are visiting local communities and knocking on doors to provide emotional support, some financial assistance, disaster spiritual care, and offer coping and safety information to help people get through this challenging time and prepare for future disasters.
To date, the Red Cross has:
HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help people affected by the Puerto Rico Earthquakes by texting the word EARTHQUAKES to 90999 to make a $10 donation or indicating this disaster on the donation form on redcross.org, and printing and mailing to your local Red Cross chapter. The Red Cross honors donor intent, and all designated funds will be used to support the affected communities in Puerto Rico through emergency relief, recovery and preparedness efforts.
EARTHQUAKE SAFETY You can find valuable information on how to be safe before, during and after an earthquake here.
Watch this video to learn more about the Red Cross response in Puerto Rico.
CORPORATIONS HELP The generous donations from members of the Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and the Disaster Responder Program enable the American Red Cross to prepare communities for disasters big and small, respond whenever and wherever disasters occur and help families during the recovery process.
ADGP $1 Million members are: Amazon; American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Anthem Foundation; Bank of America; Caterpillar Foundation; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation; FedEx; The Home Depot Foundation; Latter-day Saint Charities; Lilly Endowment Inc.; Lowe's Companies, Inc.; Mazda North American Operations; Microsoft Corp.; Nationwide Foundation; State Farm; VSP Global; Walmart and the Walmart Foundation; The Walt Disney Company; and Wells Fargo.
ADGP $500,000 members are: Altria Group; Aon; Capital One; Cisco Foundation; Citi Foundation; The Clorox Company; Darden Foundation; Delta Dental Community Care Foundation; Discover; Edison International; Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation; Fidelity Charitable Trustees’ Initiative; Ford Motor Company; Fox Corporation; General Motors; Grainger; HCA Healthcare; Humble Bundle; IBM Corporation; International Paper; The J.M. Smucker Company; Johnson Controls Foundation; The Kroger Co. Foundation; LHC Group; Merck Foundation; Mondelēz International Foundation; New Balance Foundation; PepsiCo Foundation; Procter & Gamble; PwC Charitable Foundation; San Manuel Band of Mission Indians; Sands Cares; Southwest Airlines; The Starbucks Foundation; Target; The TJX Companies, Inc.; Toyota; United Airlines; UPS; The USAA Foundation, Inc.; and The Wawa Foundation.
Disaster Responder Program members are: 7-Eleven Cares Foundation; Adobe; American Express; Assurant; AstraZeneca; AT&T; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; Avangrid Foundation; The Ball Foundation; Barclays; BMW of North America; CarMax; Choice Hotels International; CNA Insurance; The Coca-Cola Company; The Coca-Cola Foundation; Consumer Cellular; Cox Enterprises; CSX; DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation; Dominion Energy; Duke Energy; Duke Realty; Equitable; Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation; Harbor Freight Tools Foundation, LLC; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; HP Foundation; Ingersoll Rand Foundation; John Deere Foundation; The Kraft Heinz Company Foundation; Lenovo; Liberty Mutual Insurance; Mastercard; Medtronic Foundation; Neiman Marcus Group; Northrop Grumman Corporation; Northwestern Mutual and the Northwestern Mutual Foundation; Old Dominion Freight Line; The Pfizer Foundation; Prudential Financial; Rodan + Fields Prescription for Change Foundation; Ryder System, Inc.; Security Finance’s Lending Hand Foundation; Southeastern Grocers Home of BI-LO Harveys Winn Dixie; Tata Consultancy Services; TD Ameritrade; U-Haul International; United Technologies Corporation; U.S. Bank; and Visa.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or CruzRojaAmericana.org, or follow us on social media.
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