Ontario builders help rebuild Puerto Rico

May 29 2018

Work crews from Ontario building in storm-ravaged Puerto Rico. - Jeff Davis

In May 2018 home builder Doug Tarry, owner of Doug Tarry Homes of St. Thomas, Ontario, returned from his third trip to storm-ravaged Puerto Rico where he has led a Canadian team building and repairing homes.
Tarry has set up a foundation, Hope Agua Vita, as part of an effort to help people in a village that is one of many Puerto Rico centres hammered by Hurricane Maria in September 2017.
The goal is to upgrade homes so they withstand hurricanes and storms, Tarry said. “The hope of this is that we’re going to be working on construction details that are applicable back here,” he added.
The Hope Agua Vita team includes experts from St. Thomas, London, Cambridge, Toronto, Barrie and St. John’s, N.L. They are builders, renovators, framers, engineers, designers, logisticians and labourers.
The team is also training locals in roof repairs—a common problem in the U.S. territory of 3.5 million people.
According to the Puerto Rican government, Hurricane Maria destroyed more than 87,000 homes and another 386,000 homes sustained major damage. Winds approaching 200 kilometres per hour also knocked out all electricity on the Caribbean island, and killed an estimated 1,000 people.
Puerto Rico still needs help. For information, or to donate to the Canadian home builder effort, visit Facebook.com/HOPEAGUAVITA