I am glad to see scientists and other competent people taking a strong interest in the plight of Puerto Rico. The real story about Puerto Rico has not been told. It is a third-world country which gains very little from its legal position as part of the United States -- except in the ability of its people, American citizens, to leave the forsaken island for Florida or New York for a real American life. America has had Puerto Rico for about 120 years; it would perhaps have been better treated by a Spanish government interested in showing it could rule a colony in a decent manner, even though all the other Spanish colonies, save for a tiny one in North Africa, were happy to break with Spanish rule.
We deplore what the hurricane did to Puerto Rico but had the Island been properly ruled for a century, the damage might have been like that of the American states on the Gulf.