ハリケーン来襲時の救援物資放置…地震被災者ら怒り　プエルトリコ

【サンフアンＡＦＰ＝時事】先月から際限のない地震に見舞われている米自治領プエルトリコで、2017年のハリケーン来襲時のものとみられる大量の救援物資が倉庫2か所で未使用のまま放置されているのが見つかり、地震被災者らへの救援物資に転用された。（写真は大量の救援物資が未使用のまま放置されていたことを受け、米自治領プエルトリコの首都サンフアンでワンダ・バスケス・ガルセド知事の退陣を訴えるデモ参加者ら）
　プエルトリコ州兵は２１日、放置されていた救援物資が地震の被災者らに届き始めたと発表した。２０日には最も被害の大きい都市のうち１０市に、合わせておむつ９００箱、折り畳み式ベッド１４００台、防水シート８８０枚、バッテリーやカセットコンロ、シーツなどが詰められた箱数百個が到着したという。
　だが先週末、倉庫２か所に大量の物資が放置されていたことが発覚した際、住民らは激怒し、抗議デモが発生。司法当局は経緯について調査を開始した。政府は２１日に倉庫の在庫内容を公表した。
　昨年１２月２８日以降、プエルトリコ南部は１０００回を超える地震に見舞われており、約５０００人が屋外の避難所で緊張した毎日を送っている。
　首都サンフアンでは２０日、数百人が抗議デモを行い、わずか６か月前に前知事を辞任に追い込んだのと同様、ワンダ・バスケス・ガルセド知事の退陣を迫った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/01/23-08:32）

Puerto Ricans dealing with the effects of almost non-stop earthquakes since last month have begun to receive emergency supplies, the National Guard said Tuesday -- but the supplies were originally meant for hurricane victims two years ago.
The aid was found abandoned in warehouses in the US territory over the weekend, leading to protests and a judicial investigation.
On Monday, 10 of the towns most affected by the series of tremors received nearly 900 boxes of diapers, almost 1,400 cots, about 880 tarps and hundreds of boxes of batteries, gas stoves and bed sheets, among other items, Puerto Rico National Guard chief Jose Reyes said.
The mission continues today, Reyes said, and the supplies will also be sent to other areas as a preventative measure.
About 5,000 people are living in open-air shelters, nervous after the more than 1,000 earthquakes that have struck the southern part of the island since December 28 and which have left hundreds of homes uninhabitable.
Residents were irate when two warehouses -- one in the southern city of Ponce and another near San Juan -- were found to be filled with thousands of abandoned supplies, apparently never used after Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.
The storms' one-two punch left Puerto Ricans without power for months and killed nearly 3,000 people, according to the local government's official numbers.
It is totally unacceptable what has happened, Secretary of Public Affairs Osvaldo Soto told journalists after the government on Tuesday made public an inventory of the warehouses.
A Facebook user had on Saturday posted video of one of the facilities filled with undistributed aid.
Governor Wanda Vazquez Garced fired three high-ranking officials and referred the case to the courts.
On Monday, hundreds called for Vazquez Garced's resignation during a protest in the capital of San Juan, where street demonstrations forced the resignation of her predecessor only six months ago.
US President Donald Trump has accused the Puerto Rican government of incompetence and siphoning off hurricane relief money, triggering a public spat between the president and San Juan's Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, as well as the governor Ricardo Rossello.
The Puerto Rican leaders accused Trump of treating the population of the island like second class citizens.