Philadelphia-area organizations look to send help to Puerto Rico following earthquakes

Rubble covers the street after a 6.4 earthquake hit just south of the island on January 7, 2020 in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico.
Photo credit Eric Rojas/Getty Images
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A relief effort led by Philadelphia-area organizations is underway to help Puerto Ricans impacted by recent earthquakes that hit the island.

Charito Morales has dozens of family members in Puerto Rico and says from no electricity to crumbled houses, all of them have different issues to deal with as a result of the recent earthquakes.

"It's really hard. It's really uncomfortable because they're not sleeping, they're scared, but we're also scared because it's our families that are suffering and going through this, and we got to make sure that we help them," Morales said. 

Morales is a part of Philly Boricuas and the Providence Center — both organizations with strong ties to Puerto Rico — that are filling bags with batteries, ponchos, toiletries, and even resealable plastic baggies.

"If you put all of your paperwork inside of Ziploc bags, they are not going to get wet and you'll be able to use those papers to seek help and resources. In Hurricane Maria, there was no way for them to prove to FEMA that they had the paperwork for the house and they were denying services," she explained.

Morales says thanks to one of their allies who works for an airline company, they are able to send supplies at a discounted rate. 

They've already made their first drop off.

"So far, we sent 275 backpacks. That's what we had in hand at this moment," she said.