November 15, 2017
On September 20th, everyone in Puerto Rico witnessed the most powerful and catastrophic hurricane in our history. There were destroyed homes, obstructed roadways, overflowed rivers, thousands of fallen trees—despair seemed to take over everything.
That was the result of Hurricane Maria passing through the island. The enormous destruction showed how fragile and vulnerable we were before this kind of phenomenon. The day after the hurricane, people of this beautiful land saw the new reality that Puerto Rico was about to face. We were left without electricity, clean water service, telecommunications and with limited access to fuel and food.
However, with the strength that resilience produces, we united to bring hope. We transformed the pain and emerged stronger. We decided to be the architects of our new destiny, full of hope, with the ability to face adversity.
As a company committed to the sustainable development of our communities, AES Puerto Rico’s people were immediately involved in recovery efforts, ready to work with all parties.
Our goal was to restore electric power to the communities that need it so much as soon as possible. While our technical team worked in restoring operations of our power plant, we opened roads, collected debris, placed sunshades in residences of people who lost everything. With the help of our colleagues at AES Dominicana in the Dominican Republic, we managed to obtain bottled water and canned food that we distributed door-to-door, bringing joy and hope. We visited neighborhoods surrounding our plant, including Pozuelo, Miramar, Jobos, Puente Jobos, Colonia Reunion and Santa Ana. We cleaned their roads and schools. We donated fuel to municipalities, government agencies and community-based organizations such as the Salvation Army to enable them to prepare food for the community.
At AES Puerto Rico, we witnessed the destruction and desolation left by Maria, but we have also witnessed how our communities rise up. We are ready to repower Puerto Rico and continue to work and support recovery efforts, committed to improving lives and providing sustainable, safe and reliable energy solutions in every place we serve.
Bruni TorresStakeholder Management, AES Puerto Rico
