Puerto Rico to receive US$18.4bn in disaster relief

The US granted US$18.4bn of disaster relief money on Tuesday to Puerto Rico, mainly to finance infrastructure and housing reconstruction.

The housing and urban development department (HUD) granted the resources as part of a US$28bn grant covering disaster relief and mitigation efforts for events dating back to 2015 for nine US states, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

In September 2017, hurricanes Irma and María rampaged through the Caribbean. In Puerto Rico María destroyed around 90% of cellphone towers and severely damaged the power infrastructure, leaving the island without power for weeks. Nevertheless, the country's telecoms market has seen an uptick.

"The grants announced today represent the largest single amount of disaster recovery assistance in HUD's history and include more than $12 billion for major disasters that occurred in 2017 and nearly $16 billion to support 'mitigation' activities in areas that experienced major Presidentially declared disasters since 2015," the HUD said in a statement.

It added that "grantees are required to spend the majority of these recovery funds in 'most impacted' areas as identified by HUD."

The US Federal Communications Commission has also proposed a US$954mn aid package to restore communications networks both in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.