U.S. Aid Not Fast Enough, Islanders Say

Desperately needed emergency power generators, water purifiers and medical supplies arrived in the hurricane-devastated Caribbean on Friday, but officials pleaded for more help--faster.

“The big effort now is to put the people in economic condition to rebuild their houses,” Puerto Rican Gov. Rafael Hernandez Colon declared. “Part of the desperation of the people is that they are continuing (to stay) in shelters.”

In the U.S. Virgin Islands, some officials on St. Croix said it had been wrong to send in troops before aid. They complained that the soldiers brought bullets instead of food, clothing or medicine. Some blamed President Bush, who dispatched the troops to stop plundering and violence. Others blamed the territorial governor.

Hurricane Hugo laid waste to the Caribbean four days ago before hammering the East Coast of the United States. At least six persons were killed in Puerto Rico, and estimates of the homeless climbed to as high as 50,000. More than 90% of the homes and other buildings in the Virgin Islands were damaged or destroyed.

The vice chairman of the Red Cross in St. Croix, Evelyn Crittenden, told the Associated Press that American troops carrying M-16 rifles were intimidating law abiding people. At least, she said, the troops should have brought emergency supplies. Instead, she said, they were making people afraid to leave home.

“This is crazy,” Crittenden said. “We don’t live like this. We’re Americans. We’re not people from the Third World.”

Authorities in Puerto Rico complained that supplies from the mainland were being delayed by red tape. Some residents of St. Croix, the largest of the Virgin Islands, charged that Bush should have sent troops more quickly. Most are military policemen. The last of the 1,200-soldier contingent were expected Friday night.

Cite Lack of Violence

In Washington, Pentagon officials said that no violence has been reported since Thursday, when the troops began arriving.

When asked if the President had been slow to respond to appeals from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, Grant C. Peterson, associate director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, replied heatedly:

“I’m not going to let you lay this one on President Bush!”

Peterson said Bush was treating Caribbean territories no differently from South Carolina, where Hugo caused millions of dollars worth of destruction.

The President signed a federal disaster declaration for the Virgin Islands the same day Gov. Alexander Farrelly requested it, Peterson said. Similarly, he said, Bush signed a disaster declaration for South Carolina within hours of getting a request from Gov. Carroll A. Campbell Jr.

The declarations authorize emergency federal aid for stricken areas.

“This President has been extremely responsive in all three cases,” Peterson said about decisions to provide aid to St. Croix, Puerto Rico and South Carolina.

Tons of Supplies Airlifted

He said federal authorities were airlifting tons of emergency supplies to both the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, including:

--Four 750-kilowatt electrical generators for St. Croix, along with a technical team to begin restoring power because 90% of the island’s power poles were downed.

--Two transportable airport control towers for St. Croix and St. Thomas so their airports can reopen for military airlifts and commercial air traffic.

--8,000 cots, 8,000 blankets and emergency personal supplies for Puerto Rico. Peterson said they were aboard an Air Force C-5 cargo plane.

--Basic medical supplies for the stricken islands.

--200,000 ready-to-eat field rations for civilians. Peterson said they were provided by the Defense Department.

“St. Croix is devastated, absolutely devastated,” Peterson said. “It’s probably the most extreme damage we have seen in many, many years.”

His agency estimated that 10,000 families on St. Croix had been left homeless by the storm.

On St. Thomas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said, as many as 7,000 families were affected by the storm, and 3,000 homes were destroyed or suffered major damage. One of six emergency shelters remained open, housing 1,500 evacuees.

On St. John, as many as 800 families were affected, the agency said, with as many as 300 homes on the island destroyed. Another 200 had major damage.

On Puerto Rico, 9,000 homes were destroyed or severely damaged. More than 30,000 families were affected, the agency said, and more than 20,000 people remained in emergency shelters.

Those in the shelters worried Gov. Hernandez Colon the most. For the second straight day, he criticized the Red Cross for failing to provide cots. Many were sleeping on bare floors.

“The Red Cross workers--the volunteers--are working well,” the governor said. “Who failed was the Red Cross leadership. They have promised cots, and they (the cots) have not been received.”

Bill Wells, an assistant Red Cross director who flew to San Juan to help direct the relief effort, responded that thousands of Red Cross cots and blankets were expected on military planes before the day was out.

“Four days is not a long time,” Wells declared. “It takes a long time to put all these pieces together. It takes a few days even to know how many people are affected.”

St. Croix was peaceful, the Pentagon said.

A military spokesman in Washington said that U.S. marshals, FBI agents and military policemen were patrolling the two main cities, Christiansted and Fredericksted.

Four Navy ships also had taken up position at St. Croix: two frigates to provide communications and radar coverage and two desalination ships to convert salt water to drinking water.

Additional water purification units were being airlifted to the island, officials said. They said 1.8 million square feet of plastic sheeting was being flown in to patch up damaged homes.

Territorial Sen. Lilliana Belardo de O’Neal said that Gov. Farrelly had been “wrong in telling the people (of St. Croix that) the military was coming without telling them when food was coming, water was coming.”

The Bush Administration should have sent relief supplies right away instead of soldiers, said former territorial Sen. Alicia Torres James.

“Yes, there was some looting, but these were hungry people who need food for their kids,” she said.

In San Juan, Gov. Hernandez Colon said that motors, power generators and other equipment arrived during the day Friday. He said it would take at least a day to install the equipment and restore the Sergio Cuevas water plant to service.

But the governor said that sanitary installations in shelters in Conovanas, a badly damaged area of northern Puerto Rico, were still unusable.

Puerto Rican authorities said they feared pestilence because of flooding, strewn debris and lack of fresh water.

Medical and personal supplies also began arriving in Puerto Rico.

They were being rushed to all parts of the island to prevent outbreaks of cholera and other diseases.

Staff writers John M. Broder in Washington and Richard E. Meyer in Los Angeles contributed to this story.