Gregory Gottlieb, director of the Friedman School's Feinstein International Center appeared on WGBH News' Greater Boston last week, speaking about the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Drawing from his breadth of experience as former Acting Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance at USAID, Gottlieb offered his perspective about the key elements in initiating a humanitarian response. Communication and coordination must come first, he emphasized. "You have to start preparing ahead of time. You don't wait until after it (the hurricane) goes through" Gottlieb said. When asked by host Jim Braude if there had been any advance preparation of supplies or advance mobilization of responders on the part of the US government, Gottlieb replied "It doesn't look like it, at this juncture."
Julio Ricardo Varela, a contributor to NPR’s ‘Latino USA’, and MA State Representative Jeffrey Sanchez of Boston also took part in the discussion about whether the federal government is doing enough for Puerto Rico.