Presenter: C. William Booher, FEMA Public Affairs Director; John Rabin, FEMA Acting Regional Administrator; Alejandro De La Campa, FEMA Federal Coordinating Officer; Rear Admiral Jeffrey Hughes; Brigadier General Richard Kim; Jeff Byard, Associate Administrator

for the Office of Response and Recovery

September 28, 2017

FEMA Briefing

OPERATOR: Good day, and welcome to the FEMA press call on Hurricane Maria recovery. Today's conference is being recorded.

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Will Booher, FEMA public affairs director. Please go ahead.

MR. C. WILLIAM BOOHER: Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for joining us. My name is William Booher; I'm the director of public affairs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Today, we're going to provide an on-the-record operational update on federal support to the response effort in Puerto Rico. On the call today, we have Regional Administrator John Rabin, Federal Coordinating Officer Alex De La Campa, Rear Admiral Jeff Hughes, Brigadier General Rich Kim.

They will provide some brief opening remarks, and then we'll open it up for your questions. When we open it up for questions, I'd ask that you state your name and organization before asking that question.

And at this time, I'll turn the call over to Regional Administrator John Rabin.

MR. JOHN RABIN: Great. Good afternoon from Puerto Rico.

As Will said, my name's John Rabin. I'm the acting regional administrator in FEMA Region II. FEMA Region II is responsible for New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Here in Puerto Rico, we have been -- we've been working in support of the governor of Puerto Rico, and in support of the Puerto Rico government, since really before Hurricane Irma started. And I think it's worth knowing there's a couple of other points to make in this.

Region II has -- Region II has a Caribbean Area Division down here that has 43 folks that work here in Puerto Rico, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They're responsible for preparedness, response planning, recovery -- all of the work that FEMA does throughout the nation, we do it here in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, using our Caribbean Area Division staff down here.

So our folks are fully embedded with the governor and fully embedded with the governor's staff to ensure that the objectives and the priorities of the governor are the ones that we view, as well.

Hurricane Maria was, and I will not mince words -- was a catastrophic storm in Puerto Rico. The damage is significant. It's terrible, and the impact on the citizens of the United States who live here has been tremendous.

The challenge in addition to having this storm, what is especially difficult and complex here is the fact that we have to support 3.5 million people on an island.

Our initial efforts over the past -- really, since the storm passed was to reestablish the sea lines of communication and the airfield lines of communication to ensure that we had the ability to bring in the commodities, the resources and the support necessary in order to help the folks here in Puerto Rico.

That meant reestablishing -- clearing ports and reestablishing a sea line of communication to get ships and ports and barges into Puerto Rico. We needed to clear airports and open airports to ensure that both of those -- both of those modes of transportation could be delivered -- could deliver resources safely and effectively.

And, in addition to that, we had to also work very closely with our colleagues in Puerto Rico to almost reestablish a local distribution network of commodities and resources.

Communications throughout the island has been significantly degraded. There are many parts of this island that still don't have good communications. The critical infrastructure, from the roads, to the water systems, to the electrical distribution and generation systems, are nonfunctioning.

So we've had to, oftentimes, reach out to folks through the distribution system; through driving through the woods; cutting paths to get to municipalities; reaching out to mayors through satellite phones; dropping urban search and rescue folks in helicopters; using our partners in the Marine Corps and the services and the Puerto Rico National Guard to cut trees down, to drive four-wheel-drive vehicles and [High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle] and military vehicles up to reach all aspects of Puerto Rico.

We have reached out to all 78 municipalities. We have -- we have provided food and water and commodities to each one of those. But that is just the beginning of the challenge. We now have to -- we now have to continue to resupply and reestablish those communications. We need to continue to resupply, with our Puerto Rican partners, the system to drive commodities and share them throughout Puerto Rico.

So a couple of things that I wanted to add before I turn it over for a more tactical update from the federal coordinating officer: We have -- we have some pretty great relationships down here with our Department of Defense [DOD] partners.

We've got -- the Navy has been here with us, the Army has been here with us, really, since prior to Irma, but definitely throughout Maria, as well.

We've got the Coast Guard, we've got the Army Reserve, and all of us are working very, very closely with the Puerto Rico National Guard to ensure that we are providing them the support they need to -- and really building that partnership to ensure that the governor is -- we are helping to meet the governor's priorities.

Through the structure of the National Response Framework, our partners in [Department of Defense] at all levels, from the Reserve to the active component, are all supporting FEMA as we coordinate the effort of the entire federal -- the federal family -- the rest of the federal government to really help achieve what we need to achieve down here, which is, you know, saving lives, sustaining lives and protecting lives.

So just a couple of quick examples of some of the things that have been done here over the past -- really, you know, probably the past week or so, using our Title 10 forces in coordination with Puerto Rico's government and in cooperation with and coordination with -- collaboration with the Puerto Rico National Guard, we have done some joint work to clear roads.

We've delivered commodities. We've delivered commodities. We've also set up the -- a distribution center. We're creating teams to go out there and clear hospitals.

Some of our best and most effective uses have been using, to date, our amphibious readiness group, which includes the USS Oak Hill, as well as -- as well as the Kearsarge and the Marine Corps U that is attached to those units.

They have been great, great partners in doing some incredibly good work to start getting the response and the recovery moving in the direction that's going to provide those life-sustaining and life-saving capabilities to our -- to our citizens here in Puerto Rico.

So the last thing I'll say before I turn it over to Alex is this has been catastrophic. I don't want to mince words for this. You've all seen the pictures. You've all -- a lot of us have friends that live in Puerto Rico and colleagues that live in Puerto Rico.

This has been a catastrophic event, and today is going to be a very difficult and hard day for our fellow citizens of Puerto Rico. Hopefully today will be a little bit better than yesterday was, and our hope is that tomorrow will be a bit better, as well.

So, with that, to give you a little bit more of a tactical update, I'm going to pass over to Alex De La Campa, who's our federal coordinating officer.

DE LA CAMPA: Hi, good morning. Thank you, John.

And, based on the introduction provided by John, I'll be more tactical. So now, the priorities are commodity delivery; fuel delivery and security to gas stations and large chains of

supermarkets; diesel delivery to hospitals; hospital assessments; power restoration; and telecommunications restoration.

And I will touch base in each one of the areas that I just mentioned, and -- about our priorities.

Commodity deliver -- we've received, yesterday, 450,000 bottles of water and 260 meals, and in the next two days, we're going to receive 2.4 meals and 1.7 bottles of water.

Related to the distribution of those commodities, we started a few days ago going municipality by municipality. But we have been able to establish a distribution plan that was in place prior to the storm, where we have identified 11 regional staging areas, and we're taking from the Incident Support Base [ISB] into the support base, to all of those regional staging areas, water, food and other commodities.

And we have coordinated already with the 78 mayors in Puerto Rico, where they will be going on a daily basis, or every time that they need, so they can pick up with their own trucks and their own equipment the water and the food that they need.

So that's in place, and we're getting the support from the State Guard, the National Guard and many other entities among the federal agencies and commonwealth agencies.

Related to fuel delivery and security, a plan was developed especially to provide security. A task force was created with federal agencies, commonwealth policemen and other law enforcement official in Puerto Rico, because that was one of the concerns -- that the gas stations and the large chains of supermarkets -- and just to give you an example of how this has been improved, three days ago, there were only, like, 300 gas stations open.

So today, we have 600 -- 676 gas stations are opening this morning. So we're starting to see the improvement. Also the large chains of supermarkets are starting, also, to open now that they are receiving fuel. The Costcos, the Walmarts and all the local big supermarket chains are starting to receive diesel, so they're open and trying to go back to normality.

The third topic I'll talk -- diesel delivery to hospitals has been a main priority, especially for the medical center and all the big hospitals around the island. Fortunately, the medical center in the metropolitan area has electricity since yesterday, so those are good news.

But we have a plan of action where we have, per day, the hospitals that we will be refueling on a regular basis, and then we have a plan for the next four or five days.

Hospital assessment is also part of what we're doing, because many of them were heavily damaged or affected. So we have teams from Human and Health Services [HHS] and local officials that are conducting -- and DOD -- especially DOD -- that are supporting and overseeing the inspections of those hospitals to see when can we open them and provide support to the government of Puerto Rico.

Related to power restoration, we have a combination of the local electric and power authority, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- DOD is also supporting us -- and some electrical crews that are coming from the mainland -- New York, New Jersey and other locations that will be providing support to the Puerto Rico Electric and Power Authority.

You all probably know, after the storm, we have zero customers with power, and we're still working on that with the support of all the federal agencies, including DOD.

Telecommunication restoration -- same thing, providing support to the private entities to see how soon can we restore. And so today was only like 25 percent of the telecommunications restored. So they're working, also, hard in the restoration of their area.

In terms of -- we have released -- we have released 1.8 million liters of water and 682,000 meals to the municipalities, to the transportation we provided to the municipalities. All that has been transported to the regional staging areas and -- where the mayors and the local officials are going to pick up the deliveries.

We have a couple situations related to municipalities where, due to the large population that they have, we are assigning liaisons from FEMA to work with the mayors. And we started with the municipality of San Juan, and also with the municipality of Ponce. Those are the two largest municipalities in Puerto Rico, one in the north, one in the south.

All airports are open, and we're moving our operations to Ceiba airport from Rosie road to establish our incident support base. The ports of San Juan, Mayaguez, Ponce are open at this time. We have no official date for the opening of the schools and even for public service. Only essential entities are reporting to work.

Related to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, we have assigned missions for blue roofing, installation of generators and debris removal operations. We have conducted several meetings with mayors, and they have been very beneficial.

As John indicated earlier, due to the lack of communications, we are not able to communicate via phone with many of the municipalities. So the mayors and their staff are coming on a regular basis to Joint Force Operations [JFO], and we're able to provide them with all the support and assistance that they need. So they make sure that, when they go back, they know when they're going to receive the water, the food, when communications will be restored, blue roofing missions or debris removal missions -- and they are aware of that.

The PREPA -- PREPA is the Puerto Rico Electric and Power Authority -- director indicated this morning during a meeting with the governor that electricity will return today to the airport, the international airport; to the Condado area, and Ocean Park. All those areas are in the metropolitan area of San Juan. Also will return to Mayaguez -- that's in the west part of the island, where we have the second largest medical center in Puerto Rico.

And I just want to thank all the support that we're receiving from all our federal partners, especially DOD, that are -- have been supporting us in all areas that are in the operations of these events.

With that, I'll end.

REAR ADMIRAL JEFFREY HUGHES: Good afternoon. This is Rear Admiral Jeff Hughes, United States Navy, from San Juan. I am the commander of the Title 10 active component forces in the area.

I’d like to just start off by saying that we are here at the request of the governor of Puerto Rico, in support of the lead federal agency, FEMA, and we are completely aligned with their priorities, and fully engaged and integrated in this whole-of-government response effort.

I want to talk a little bit about the immediate response that we were able to perform. We were underway south of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea, executing a storm avoidance track. As the storm passed over Puerto Rico, we came in behind it to ensure that we maintained the proper conditions.

And when the weather permitted, we were able to launch search-and-rescue helicopters to go in immediately after storm passage, again, once the -- once the weather permitted. And we did that in concert with U.S. Coast Guard assets and some rotary-wing assets from the Puerto Rico National Guard.

So we focused on those critical life-saving missions first and foremost, and performing search and rescue, medevac missions, and then we also performed some aerial assessment missions in that first couple of days.

We then shifted our air focus to continue to maintain a Search And Rescue [SAR] response posture and continue to expand and upgrade those aerial assessments, but we also started those lift missions for those critical life-sustaining commodities -- food, water, medical supplies -- to ensure that we were able to take supplies that were either on the island and needed to get to other remote areas, to include Culebra and the Vieques Island areas, as well as to bring in or accept the commodities that were coming from off the island and get them distributed as best as we could.

We then turned our focus to make sure that we were supporting those efforts that Mr. Rabin referred to in getting the airports and the seaports open. One of the things that we did was we used the unique capabilities of an amphibious assault ship as a sea base, and we actually put Marines ashore via a landing craft to go establish the airfield at Ceiba, the former Naval station Roosevelt Roads.

And while we were doing that, we were also bringing in ground equipment that the Marines would use, for example, things like water production capabilities, and using our aircraft as portable tanks to refill other trucks, to bring water into the region.

But it was also an opportunity for us to accept the U.S. Air Force -- their airport opening package, so that they could come in, establish the airspace and really allow for the conditions to be met for them to start bringing in the heavy-lift air mobility assets that bring the large quantities of supplies that are sorely needed on the island.

We then shifted our focus again to the ground, so we -- we're with -- in the air, on the sea, and now on the ground. So, again, using the equipment that we brought aboard with our Marines and our Seabees, we hooked up with some of the partners on the island, such as the Army Reserves in the one Military Sealift Command [MSC], as well as our Puerto Rico National Guard partners.

And we did a lot of missions together in a consolidated and coordinated fashion, such as route clearance, ground distribution to get things from some of those pods where you get them from the seaport or the airport to the actual distribution pod in the municipalities, and then we also partnered and teamed with the whole of government, from federal, territory and local, to help in those medical assessment and resupply missions.

So again, from the get-go, we've been working with our partners to make a difference and have the desired effects that we're all striving for.

And then, last, I think it's important to mention that we're at a phase of the mission, now, where it makes sense to transition from a maritime-led operation, where we had the immediate response, to a more land-based operation to better support FEMA, the governor and the rest of our whole-of-government partners.

And with that, I'd like to go ahead and turn it over to Brigadier General Kim.

BRIGADIER GENERAL RICHARD KIM: Thank you, Jeff.

Good afternoon. My name is Brigadier General Rich Kim, U.S. Army. I'm the lead element for joint forces land component command out of Fort Sam Houston. It's commanded by Lieutenant General Buchanan, who will be here sometime later tonight.

Since we got on the ground last night, we've been in the midst of transitioning with Rear Admiral Hughes and his team and the great work that they've been doing up to this point.

Just want to highlight that there's already great work that's happening; for example, the first mission command, out of the U.S. Army Reserve, has 490 soldiers that’s localized, providing the capacity for route clearance, trucks for commodity distribution, and also they're working the Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit [ROWPU] which is a water purification mission, as well. So there's a lot of things that they're already providing.

And our focus is continue to build on that capacity by bringing in additional forces to Puerto Rico. Again, what we want to do is ensure that this is relining and supporting the FEMA strategic priorities and ensuring that we're providing the support to the people of Puerto Rico.

We have -- up to this point, have ordered deployment of logistical headquarters and the elements to initiate the sustainment framework to support follow-on life-sustaining and -- life-sustaining units.

And then the other priority for us is to really help build the distribution network so that we can get those commodities out to the people that -- in need, again, working with the -- FEMA's priority and with the National Guard from Puerto Rico.

Addition to the forces (inaudible), there is Third -- Expeditionary Sustainment Command, who is going to be working the theater-level sustainment, and then we have a forward sustainment brigade out of Fort Carson that's also deploying to work the tactical-level sustainment and logistical footprint.

Additionally, we have additional aviation assets that's coming in to support the helicopter -- helicopter movement. We already have eight Medivac birds that came in last night, two of them is already supporting in the mission for FEMA and the state.

And then lastly, I just want to point out that the -- the medical is going to be critical, and we are on the point of medical capacity, area support medical company, deployable medical capability, and also, medical logistical (inaudible).

So right now, overall, we're looking at deployment of about 11 units, with additional 2,000 troops to Puerto Rico to support the FEMA effort, and supporting the people of Puerto Rico.

With that, we're transitioning to questions.

MR. C. WILLIAM BOOHER: All right. Thank you, gentlemen. Again, this is Will Booher in Washington, D.C. Before we open up for questions, I do want to note that if you're from Washington, D.C., we do also have available associate administrator for the Office of Response and Recovery, Mr. Jeff Byard, as well as the assistant administrator for Logistics, Mr. Jeff Dorko. So with that, operator, if you will please open it up for questions.

OPERATOR: Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing *1 on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. We ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Again, press *1 to ask a question. We'll take our first question (inaudible). Please go ahead.

Q: Yes, thank you so much for having this news -- press conference. Question is, who exactly is in charge of the overall response? Is it the governor of -- of Puerto Rico? And can the U.S. ask that FEMA, DOD -- can they decide what needs to be done, or do they have to wait until the governor makes a request? We -- we keep hearing calls for a sort of a czar to be appointed in charge of the whole disaster response there, a federal czar. Is that needed? Would that improve the situation on the ground?

MR. BYARD: Sir, this is Jeff Byard. I'm -- I'm here at FEMA headquarters. Let me address those -- your -- your questions.

First, the governor, Governor Rossello, is in charge of the response operations in Puerto Rico. We are in support -- we are in heavy support of the response operations, because a lot of the traditional responder resource and management resources are clearly, you know, survivors and victims, as well.

So the -- as far a czar, that -- that is not, you know, no -- no knowledge of that. The president has appointed a federal coordinating officer, which is, you know, part of the authorities that -- that the president delegates down to the FEMA administrator under the Stafford Act, and that is Mr. Alejandro De La Campa, who is -- who is on the call. So the governor is clearly in charge.

As far as waiting for the state to request, you know, we -- we do things in conjunction. That's why we have some -- some very senior leadership there on the ground, with John Rabin, the acting, you know, regional administrator, Alex , and you know, you've got a rear admiral, and a -- and a -- and a brigadier general there, coordinating those efforts.

So -- so we don't necessarily, you know, you know, act on our own, but we also don't wait on the situation, because we know what needs to be done. So the governor's given very broad directions, and then we, in turn, are developed on those objectives and moving out, so that's kind of how that works. And I'll let, you know, John or Alex, or any of the -- the others chime in. But I wanted to make sure that we were clear on who's in charge at the -- at the disaster there in Puerto Rico.

MR. RABIN: Yeah, Jeff, thanks. This is John Rabin, and I'll echo what -- what Jeff said. The -- the governor is in charge of -- of -- of the incident here we are here, and we are here supporting them, and the governor and staff. But we are -- we are in lockstep with those guys, but we also recognize that this is -- this is a disaster, and we've got our priorities, and we reach out, and we -- we move forward with our priorities. We are not in a waiting mode for anything. The governor has asked us to help achieve his priorities of saving lives, sustaining lives, and we are moving forward doing that.

Q: Thank you.

OPERATOR: I'll take our next question, (inaudible).

Q: Yes, hi, if you can hear me. I'm wondering about this waiting in southern Puerto Rico, Ponce, places like that. Do you know what the hospital situation is there? Do you know if -- if mass evacuations will be needed? Is -- is -- are there any clearer pictures of what's going on down there? I know there were -- there were problems with communications, and finding out exactly what the situation was.

MR. DE LA CAMPA: This is Alex De La Campa. Yesterday we met for almost two hours with the mayor of Ponce, and we discussed all the issues on all the situations that she had

in the municipality of Ponce. She had been providing support to all the commonwealth agencies that are located in her municipality, including the -- the hospital. Today, for the meeting we had yesterday, we are providing fuel to the municipality that that will support all the critical facilities that she had in her municipality.

In the region, we are scheduling to start on Saturday the installation of tarps, and in -- we have been provided, for the last few days, food and water to the mayor, and to the population in the municipality of Ponce.

Right now, we have a representative in the (inaudible) from the municipality of Ponce who is following, you know, the request that made yesterday. They're coming here on a daily basis. So at this time, we're coordinating our efforts with the mayor very closely.

Q: Can you -- can you kind of describe how the situation there is different from, say, San Juan?

MR. DE LA CAMPA: Well, I can say, I've been able to -- to travel, and to fly over the island with the governor, and also by road. Almost all 78 municipalities, situation is -- is similar. There's a lot of destruction. Right now, we still have around 10,000 people in shelters around the entire island. We have no -- no electricity, so most of the facilities in Puerto Rico are running on -- on generators. We're helping the local government with diesel. At the same time, they're doing it on -- on their own. And right now, specifically for the municipality of Ponce, the mayor is taking care of all the state agency facilities and coordination with the -- with the central government.

Q: OK, and if I could, just one quick quote? The hospitals, has -- has -- are all of the hospitals there accounted for?

MR. DE LA CAMPA: Right now, Puerto Rico has identified a -- a group of hospitals, close to 29, that will be the -- the hope for receiving all patients from other hospitals in Puerto Rico that were impacted, or were damaged.

This is being done in coordination with HHS through the Puerto Rico Department of Health, and if transportation is needed, it has been coordinated through the local Department of Health.

But the latest information we had from the mayor yesterday is that the hospital in -- (inaudible) -- was open wide on a generator.

(UNKNOWN): Thanks.

OPERATOR: We'll take our next question from Francis Roblas with the New York Times.

Caller, your line is open.

You might check your mute function.

Due to no response, we'll move on to Rafael Bernales, The Hill.

Q: Hi. Thank you for having this call.

Just quickly, do you have an estimate of how much of the population is still lacking access to critical commodities food water and -- medicine?

(UNKNOWN): Hey, John, this is – Jeff. I'm going to let John -- from the JFO.

MR. RABIN: Yeah, could you repeat the question. We -- I'm not so sure we – heard it.

Q: Oh, sorry. Basically, if you have an estimate as to how much of the population is still missing access to critical commodities -- food, water, medicine.

MR. RABIN: Sure. So this is John Rabin down here in Puerto Rico.

We have reached out to all 78 of the municipalities down here in Puerto Rico. They -- we've touched base with them and we have delivered some commodities to all of them. So each one of the municipalities has food and water.

As for the specifics as to each individuals in the municipalities, we don't have that information. But what we've done is we have set up -- there are 11 supply points located throughout Puerto Rico where we have delivered probably right around 1.1 million liters of water and almost a million meals to those points -- those 11 points throughout Puerto Rico.

Where our partners in the Puerto Rico National Guard and PRIMA, the Puerto Rico -- (inaudible) -- Agency use that as a distribution point, and they do the distribution to the municipalities to get it down to the mayors and to their -- the specific -- (inaudible).

So -- so, that's the plan we've got in place, and we know that the food is moving that way. But we don't have the specific by-community by-municipality of that.

Q: And to follow up, there's been a lot of coverage of there aren't enough truck drivers to sort of keep up -- those resources going to the 11 distribution centers or municipalities. How -- is it true? And how are you addressing that lack of truck drivers?

MR. RABIN: Sure. Alex will -- (inaudible).

MR. DE LA CAMPA: OK. This is Alejandro De La Campa again.

The situation was that there were not enough drivers at the beginning right after the storm, because they were also affected. Their homes were affected. Their vehicles were affected. They didn't have diesel. They didn't have fuel.

But things have improved significantly since yesterday. Now, we have drivers to take commodities to the different municipalities, not only for food and water, but also for diesel that they are starting to distribute also to the private sector. So we have now many supermarkets and other private sector entities that are opening based on – this.

But that was a situation that only happened at the beginning. Also, the -- the catastrophic event where many of the local residents were significantly affected.

Q: Thank you.

OPERATOR: We'll take our next question from Erin Delee with ABC News.

Q: Hi, guys. Thanks so much for doing the call.

We're hearing a lot of concern about some of the commodities being stuck at airports and ports around the island. I'm just wondering -- I know you mentioned that around 1.1 million liters of water and almost a million meals have been delivered to those 11 supply points. But I'm wondering if you're still concerned about a bottleneck? And if so, sort of how many commodities are still just standing by waiting to be distributed?

MR. DE LA CAMPA: This is Alex De La Campa again. I – effectively -- two hours ago in a press conference with the Puerto Rico port director and the governor's chief of staff and other members of the governor's staff. We clarified that information. That is not correct. All FEMA commodities are moving as we receive them and they're being deployed to the distribution centers; also the 11 -- (inaudible) -- areas.

It was clarified by the Puerto Rico port director that -- (inaudible) -- commodities -- (inaudible) -- already here, and the local vendors and the local entities in Puerto Rico couldn't go and get them because of the storm. And they have been there even prior to Hurricane Marie hit us, and both -- (inaudible) -- the commodities on the trailers -- (inaudible) -- that they're talking about.

But there's not a single trailer from FEMA or from response operations that are being -- (inaudible) -- at the airport or at the port. And as I said two hours ago, I participated in a press conference with the port authority director and several members -- several members of the governor's staff to clarify that information to the local media in Puerto Rico.

(CROSSTALK)

MR. RABIN: I want to add one more. This is John Rabin down here as well.

I think it's also -- I think it's also important to note that on an island of 3.5 or so million people, the only way that we are going to get significant amounts of food and water is through ports and through barges and shipping. You can't get enough through the aircraft. So, that's a critical part to what we're doing.

And the movement of those commodities from the port to the distribution centers is something that we are very, very focused on because that's the critical way for us to meet the huge numbers that we've got to meet down here.

Q: Understood. And then just a quick follow-up. I -- I know you guys have these supply points located throughout the island, but I'm wondering without communication how you guys are sort of getting word out to the residents where they should come and get stuff.

MR. DE LA CAMPA: Okay. We're going back to rudimentary measures. As I said, we already have the meetings with the mayors in Puerto Rico. Yesterday, we had the last one and -- (inaudible). So they're also -- almost coming here on a daily basis. We are providing them the information and then we're going to the municipalities and they are alerting the population there where the commodities will be distributed.

Normally, it is at the city hall or at the emergency management agency, and the population of each municipalities know about it, understanding that there's – no communication and that's the way they're doing it.

MR. RABIN: Right. We also have one of our -- one of the -- the capabilities that we've asked our partners at DOD to provide for us is something called a Civil Affairs Information Support Element [CAISE] unit. It's a civil affairs information support element. And what they do is they literally go out there and using backpack technology and HUMVEE technology and other technologies, be able to go out there and even to the point where they're handing out fliers, are sharing this critical disaster information with people throughout Puerto Rico.

So we have a CAISE unit that's here in Puerto Rico that we've engaged to do exactly that.

Q: Thanks.

OPERATOR: We'll take our next question from Brian Schwartz with Channel 6 News, Orlando, Florida.

Q: Hi, thank you for having us. This is Vanessa Araiza with CBS in Florida.

I met with Representative Plasencia, who is there with a group of deputies from Seminole County, and he was saying, this morning, it was like pulling teeth to try to get out and help people. Are you guys going to find a way to try to expedite that, getting help out?

MR. RABIN: This is John Rabin. Could you ask the question again? Try to get help in what way?

Q: Well, he was just saying, "Hey, look, we have the supplies. We have everything we need. We don't need to depend on anybody. But we haven't been given the clearance to go out to these communities and help people,” The whole chain of command he said.

MR. RABIN: Sure.

So I think that there's a couple of -- I think there's a couple of different answers to that. Number one is that there are lots of great organizations in Puerto Rico through bonds or liaison to bond organizations that are more than happy to help him identify where the goods and services they got are needed.

Number two, I think that, in a disaster situation like this, if there's opportunities to help people, opportunities to help people should be taken.

Q: Thank you.

OPERATOR: We'll take our next question from Christopher Flavelle with Bloomberg News. Please go ahead.

Q: Yeah -- thanks for the call. This, I guess, is a question for Mr. De La Campa. You said you've got a plan of action for the next four to five days, and, I'm sure, for beyond that. What targets or benchmarks have you set for the next few days, the next week or two? Is it the number of roads that are cleared, the number of meals distributed? How should we gauge whether the recovery effort is going as well as it should be going, and according to your plan?

MR. DE LA CAMPA: That's an excellent question. The plan that we have developed is related to several areas. One of them, the first one I mentioned earlier, is related to the hospitals and the diesel that they will need. And at the same time, we're working very closely with the Puerto Rico Electric and Power Authority.

So there's effort at the same time, like diesel to hospitals, generators that they may needing in some of the critical facilities, but at the same time, we know that the Electric and Power Authority is going to restore electricity in that area. So that's part of our plan. So it's three ways support to the vacant areas.

Related to road clearance, right now, we have done it -- we have removed debris from emergency roads so all the trucks and emergency vehicles can go through the municipalities and through the main roads. And then we'll do -- we're starting to do, at the same time with the municipality, the debris removal operations, going to regional staging areas of the debris.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is developing also a plan in support of many of the municipalities that are requesting their support.

The other plan we have is how we're going to reduce the number of people in shelters and, at that time, identify housing -- temporary housing for people -- population that is in shelter.

The Puerto Rico government has a large fabric that they will be putting in place so we can move people that are in shelters for the long term, if they need to go to those long-term shelters, because most of the schools in -- most of the shelters in Puerto Rico are schools.

So the same thing related to the other aspects, like the commodity distribution. As soon as many of the large supermarket chains and other stores in Puerto Rico open -- so then a plan to provide commodities will be reduced, and then we'll plan accordingly.

So we have plans for every aspect of the response operations that we are conducting here in Puerto Rico.

Q: But I wonder if there are quantifiable targets attached with those that we can tell our readers or people in Puerto Rico you expect to meet by this weekend, or a week from now. Is it perhaps the number of -- share of people who are out of shelters, the number of hospitals that have power again, the number of roads that have been reopened?

MR. RABIN: So -- this is John Rabin, down here in Puerto Rico. So there's a couple of different -- there's a couple of different ways to -- the way I would -- I would describe this is that a lot of disaster response -- and we are truly in a response mode right now, of saving lives, protecting lives and sustaining lives -- and a lot of those actions that we are taking -- we are taking those that we don't necessarily understand all of the cascading effects, as things move on.

So, in other words, as an example, when you get a generator up to a -- you hook a generator up to a building, once you hook the generator up to the building, you may recognize they've got another problem with the power there, they've got a different problem with the air conditioning system, or they've got a different problem with the water system.

So there's a ton of sort of cascading elements and aspects of this -- of what happens in disaster response. So -- and another example is, when you clear -- you clear debris. We're on an island of 3.5 million people. There's not a ton of places to put debris to remove. So when we remove debris and put it in one place, we often times block up another area where we have to do these things.

So coming up with -- coming up with specific measures of success are a little bit more difficult when the cascading impacts of those have a tendency to cause more challenges in other ways. I know that's not necessarily a satisfying answer. It's just the reality of doing disaster -- doing -- handling a catastrophic incident on an island.

Q: Thank you.

OPERATOR: We'll take our final question from Issam Ahmed with AFP.

Q: Yeah, hi. I just had a numeric question.

Brigadier General Kim mentioned that 11 more units and 2,000 troops have been stationed. What's the total military presence helping with the efforts in Puerto Rico at this point?

And just slightly following up from my colleague at Bloomberg's question, do we have any kind of estimated timeline for power to be back and up and running across the island?

Thank you.

BRIGADIER GENERAL RICHARD KIM: Okay. This is Brigadier General Kim. I'll take the first part of the question.

So the total DOD force -- that includes the Puerto Rico National Guard -- we're tracking just above 4,400 is what we're tracking. And that includes both -- you know, all the sea-based and land-based response force, and the -- and also the Air Force that's providing straight airlift, as well.

Q: Okay. Thank you.

OPERATOR: And this will conclude our question-and-answer session, and also our call for today. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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