Puerto Rico will be allowed access to $8.2 billion in delayed disaster-aid funding by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the island's nonvoting member of the U.S. Congress said.
Jennifer Gonzalez announced the disbursement of another chunk of funds the U.S. territory's recovery from Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017 after hundreds of earthquakes and aftershocks rattled the island since Dec. 28, collapsing hundreds of homes.
However, Puerto Ricans in the United States demonstrated outside HUD offices in several U.S. cities on Wednesday, demanding the U.S. government release all of the $44 billion in disaster and hurricane relief funding allocated to Puerto Rico. To date, only $15 billion of that money has been distributed.