By: Orlando Fiallo, PRINTECH
When you live in the Caribbean, you get used to hurricane season. Every year you go through the drill of being prepared for hurricanes and you follow the reports of hurricanes forming in the Atlantic. I guess that we all try to get ready for natural disasters, no matter where we live. If you live in California, you get ready for earthquakes, Tornados in Kansas and typhoons in Japan. After preparing, we all pray for the best.
Last year unfortunately, we got hit in Puerto Rico by Hurricane María. Officially a Category 4 hurricane, but at times, it really felt like a Category 5. Nowadays, the amount of information on the web, satellite images and composite animations of the storms are amazing, and scary. It helps you see the face of the storm before it hits you, and looking at the face of this monster before it hit was stressful.
Puerto Rico Braces for ‘Potentially Catastrophic’ Hit by Hurricane Maria
Nevertheless, at the end of the day, what ends up being important is not the monster, but the effects of the monster itself, the people it affects and how you deal with it.
That being said, the experience of living through the wrath of Huracán María to me is both a story of disaster, and a story that shows you the resourcefulness of our team that helps me appreciate even more the blessings that we all have.
A story of disaster does not need much explaining. You probably have been a witness to all the news coverage of the event. Although the news always tend to show the most dramatic stories and tragedies, sometimes they don’t show you the resiliency of the people and widespread generosity to those in need. Hurricane María was definitely devastating. The Harvard and New England Journal of Medicine’s study estimated that 4,645 deaths were linked to the hurricane and its immediate aftermath, which is more than 70 times higher than the official estimate. It will take years to restore some of the damages that occurred.
Nevertheless to me, Hurricane María was also an experience that reinforced my appreciation for the many blessings that we share at Printech, the Island, community, and my family.
It helped me realize how well prepared we have always been at Printech, and it was an opportunity for our people to show their strength and commitment to serve our customers. The Printech family pulled together in the time of need to help each other and to serve our customers. We take care of each other, and we take care of our own.
Days after the Hurricane, we had a company meeting to discuss what had happened, share the challenges that we were all facing at home, and how we could all start solving them. We also discussed what we needed to do to meet the commitments and expectations of our customers. I was so proud when one of our employees said: “I think that I am speaking for all of us when I say, even though we are facing challenges at our homes as you say, count on me to come every day to work for 8 hours and for 12 hours if needed to make sure that all the commitments are met”. We all pulled through this at Printech, and I’m so proud of our people. A natural disaster like Hurricane María gave them an opportunity to shine. Since Printech had an emergency electrical generator, we installed washing machines and dryers so our employees could bring their dirty laundry from home and wash it while they were at work. At our annual Thanksgiving lunch, we shared that the company was donating electrical generators for the homes of all our employees. Yes, Hurricane María was a disaster, but it was also an opportunity for the Puerto Rican community and our children to be involved in projects like the Humanitarian Efforts to fly Sato dogs to the US or Proyecto Agua Limpia that has been distributing potable water filters to many affected communities on the Island. I feel blessed when I see how my family and Printech has learned so many things from this event. As I listen to my children’s stories of these experiences, I see that they have realized at a young age that we all live to serve.
We are ready for the new hurricane season this year, and the Hurricane María experience has also shown me that we will always be there for each other.
