There are 3.4 million US citizens living in Puerto Rico who need help recovering from Hurricane Maria, a category four storm. On Wednesday 9/20, the hurricane hit Puerto Rico with 150 mph winds and several feet of rain. The island is still continuing to suffer. Only important buildings, such as hospitals, are running off of generators. There are few resources, necessities are difficult to come by, and there is close to no cellphone service. The death rate has the potential to reach the hundreds. Life for the citizens of Puerto Rico is hell on earth.

One of the horrifying aspects of the situation is according to a poll done by the New York Times, only 54% of Americans living in the United States were aware that there are US citizens living in Puerto Rico. The other terrible thing to note is that Hurricane Maria victims aren’t getting the same help as the people affected by Hurricane Harvey.

The majority of us go on everyday worrying about how many likes we got on a picture or if our outfit looks good, yet there are people begging for support. America as a whole, needs to come together to help each other, not just with the negative effects of mother nature, but simply with life in general.  One of the only ways that humans make it through extremely difficult situations is by asking for or allowing help.

What can we do to help? We can send care packages, first aid kits, clothing, and water purification tablets. We can also raise awareness about the tragedy and let the people affected know that we are thinking of them.

Small things can make a difference in a person’s life, especially if they’re a victim of a severe storm.

A suggestion made during an interview by Victoria Watson, a sophomore at PHS, was to raise money through celebrities like we did with Harvey. This includes things such as benefit concerts, social media posts, and benefit songs and albums. Raising money to donate is one of the most important ways to provide help. “We need to treat Puerto Rico like any other state in America,” said Watson. If we were suffering, there would be people there for us.