波士顿大学学生：在波多黎各实地学习

波士顿大学学习城市规划、公共卫生和环境科学的学生们在春假期间访问了波多黎各，了解飓风玛丽亚过后这个岛屿的情况。 照片由Natalia Chavez提供

Natalia Chavez’s spring break in Puerto Rico was not the kind of sun-and-sand getaway touted in travel brochures.

A graduate student in city planning, Chavez (MET) visited Puerto Rico to learn about the ways that Hurricane Maria, one of the deadliest storms in US history, altered life for the island’s residents. 她发现的情况比她预期的要多：大多数适龄工作居民已经逃离的社区，流离失所的家庭，以及在风暴相关死亡的悲痛中重建的人们。

而这一切都发生在旅游业飙升至创纪录水平之际。

“Puerto Rico is in an interesting situation,” says Chavez, who hadn’t been to the Caribbean island before. “There are many questions I’d like look into more.”

Chavez got the idea for the trip after attending a talk by 卡门Yulín克鲁兹索托 (CAS’84, Hon.’18), the mayor of San Juan, who appeared at Harvard last year. Along with fellow urban planning grad student Michael Zayas Morales (MET), Chavez spearheaded the trip for more than a dozen BU students, including nine city planning graduate students and three students studying public health or the environment in a five-year bachelor/master’s degree program. They were also joined by Madhu Dutta-Koehler, a Metropolitan College associate professor of the practice and director of the City Planning and Urban Affairs program, Yesim Sungu-Eryilmaz, a MET assistant professor, and 威廉·克勒, a MET adjunct business development professor.

这次旅行让我得以一瞥小屋之外的岛上生活。 该小组会见了政府官员、建筑师、城市规划师、非营利组织负责人以及波多黎各大学的学者，以了解该岛的经济、政治和环境挑战。 这也是一个思考和讨论跨学科解决方案的机会，以应对气候变化和日益危险的风暴对岛屿和沿海社区的影响。

这次旅行不是为了获得荣誉。 It was paid for out of pocket, although BU’s 可持续能源新濠影汇线上赌场研究所 donated $1,000 toward the cost.

Dutta-Koehler says students experienced firsthand the “staggering disconnect” between what’s needed and what’s available following a major disaster—even nearly a year and a half after the storm. 他们也尝到了为重建资金而进行的激烈政治博弈，以及灾后可能出现的暴利。

“It was such an emotional trip,” Dutta-Koehler says. “It was that kind of learning experience that makes you realize how much needs to be done.”

On one of their five days on the island they traveled by bus to Yabucoa, the town on the island’s southeast coast where Hurricane Maria first made landfall, just four days after Hurricane Irma. 救世军在那里的一个营地继续工作，在学生们参观的那天，1000多名居民已经排了几个小时的队来领取免费的洗涤剂、餐具和家庭用品。

扎亚斯·莫拉莱斯说，这一幕给人留下了灼热的印象，尤其是当他得知，一旦捐款用完，许多等待的人可能会空手而去。 “They were all waiting in line, even though they might not be able to receive anything,” he says.

从受害者到援助工作者的转变

对于扎亚斯·莫拉莱斯来说，这次旅行是一次苦乐参半的回家之旅。 He had been working at a tech company when the hurricanes hit the island, hunkering down and waiting out the storm in his mother’s house in Ponce. 当他们重新出现时，一切都不一样了。 水和电中断了好几个月。 朋友和家人没有办法沟通。 Like many, Zayas Morales’ mother lost her job as businesses shuttered or left the island.

他说，他很快就加入了人道主义工作，成为一名救援人员，在市中心的一个体育馆里长时间工作，帮助组织和分发捐款给失去一切的人。 他说，几个星期以来，他一直处于震惊之中。 他说，当他意识到所发生事情的严重性时，他常常流下眼泪。

随着时间的流逝，他逐渐有了一种使命感。 “It opened my eyes, and I began to see what I wanted to do with my life,” he says.

He applied to BU’s city planning program, which, with electricity spotty at best, was itself a feat. 他用手电筒准备了部分申请材料。

他在春假期间回到岛上，这进一步激发了他帮忙的愿望。 A bicycle trip by the BU group to one of San Juan’s poorest neighborhoods showed evidence of flooding and problems with mold. 一些腐朽的房屋仍然被新濠影汇赌场紧急事务管理局（FEMA）发放的蓝色防水布覆盖着。 一位挣扎度日的妇女在家里卖雪糕，每个卖50美分。

Dutta-Koehler说，该岛周围湿地的新建设导致水流向意想不到的方向，造成了额外的问题。 She says much of the neighborhood they toured by bicycle had been put in a land trust, so at least those residents didn’t have to worry about being displaced by developers.

她说，腐败是一个问题。

“Every time the government declares an area unsafe,” because of the hurricane, she says, “the next thing you know, there’s a huge office building or car park going up.”

圣胡安市长克鲁兹对特朗普政府和新濠影汇赌场应急管理局应对人道主义危机的方式（尤其是特朗普访问该岛，并在一次演讲中向公职人员扔了一卷纸巾）一直是一个慷慨激昂、直言不讳的批评者。

“We were dying, and they were killing us with bureaucracy,” 克鲁兹在2018年毕业典礼上说道 at Marsh Chapel last spring.

克鲁兹最近同意共同主持佛蒙特州民主党参议员伯尼·桑德斯（Bernie Sanders）的2020年总统竞选活动，但波士顿大学小组试图与克鲁兹会面的努力没有成功。 但学生们确实会见了波多黎各大学规划新濠影汇线上赌场研究生院的学者，非营利组织ENLACE del Caño Martín Peña（一个专注于住房、公共卫生和分区的组织），以及波多黎各基金会（一个采用自下而上方法进行经济发展的非营利组织）。

查维斯说，她还看到岛上居民非常需要心理健康服务，以帮助他们摆脱创伤后应激障碍和绝望。 One nonprofit worker she met shared the painful story of her father’s death after the storm. 她说，他被诊断为癌症第四期，需要特殊的医疗护理，大范围的停电加速了他的死亡。

查韦斯还对自然灾害与自杀、家庭暴力和人口贩卖增加之间的联系感兴趣。

扎亚斯·莫拉莱斯正在考虑如何利用他所受的教育找到使电网更具弹性的方法。 The months-long power failures crippled the island’s economy, with some losses estimated as high as $159 billion.

These are issues that can’t be ignored, he says, because it’s only a matter of time before another devastating hurricane strikes.

梅根Woolhouse can be reached at megwj@bu.edu.