SINCE Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017, US President Donald Trump and his right-wing scoundrels have done little to alleviate the dire situation on the US’s bankrupt Caribbean colony.

Instead they have focused their efforts on victim blaming, cuts to public services, and plans to privatise everything (including the island’s power supply and schools), as well as refusing to write off Puerto Rico’s $74 billion (£56bn) debt.

Maria lashed the island with winds of up to 155mph, causing landslides and floods, destroying homes, hospitals and police stations; turning streets into rivers; blocking roads, and cutting electrical power to Puerto Rico, home to some 3.4 million people.   

Ont the same day that most of the US media was distracted by the racist comments of a comedian last month, Harvard University estimated the storm lead to the deaths of over 4,600 people — over 70 times more than the official death toll of just 60.

Many of these deaths, the report said, were a result of the problems caused to the island’s healthcare provision due to power cuts and broken infrastructure.

Below are a selection of photographs from the AP new agency highlighting the Puerto Rico’s continuing privation.

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Roberto Figueroa Caballero stands in the remains of his seaside home, destroyed by Hurricane Maria, with his pet dog in the La Perla neighbourhood of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Tuesday.

Figueroa, who found a job at a pizzeria, aims to rebuild his home and is appealing the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (Fema) second rejection of his application.

Figueroa's dog was not allowed to go with him to a donated apartment where he lives now, so he visits his property daily to feed and care for him.

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A printed photo taken in September 2017 showing police lifting the coffin of officer Luis Angel Gonzalez Lorenzo — who was killed during the passage of Hurricane Maria when he tried to cross a river in his car — is shown at the same cemetery in Aguada, Puerto Rico, yesterday.

The local police force of Aguadilla and Aguada lacks about a dozen officers since the storm, due to resignations and retirements.

Blaming the island’s bankruptcy, the US government has frozen the all promotions, salaries and new hires to thr island’s police force. 

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Arden Dragoni holds a printed photo, taken in October 2017, showing him with his wife Sindy, three children and dog Max, amid the remains of his home that was destroyed by Hurricane Maria.

Here he stands at the same spot where his home remains in shambles in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, on Monday.

The unemployed construction worker and security guard is currently separated from his family, who live in a Fema-subsidised apartment, while he stays with his father.

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Juana Sostre Vazquez holds a printed photograph of her taken after Hurricane Maria destroyed her home, as she poses with her family inside her new, cinderblock home that has a temporary roof in the San Lorenzo neighbourhood of Morovis, Puerto Rico, last Saturday.

Last year's storm ripped Sostre's wooden home off its foundation in the central mountain highlands.

Living on food stamps and Social Security payments, the 69-year-old grandmother rebuilt her home with the help of her son-in-law and $14,000 (£10,512) in Fema aid.

She said her metal roof is nailed to wooden two-by-fours because she couldn't afford to build stronger and hopes the next hurricane won't send it flying.

“The money didn't let us do the roof,” she said. “I'm doing it little by little as I save a couple of dollars.”

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Rafael Reyes holds a printed photo of him taken in October 2017 showing him amid the remains of his wooden home after it was destroyed by Hurricane Maria, as he sits at his property in the San Lorenzo neighbourhood of Morovis, Puerto Rico, last Saturday.

The 41-year-old father and husband has been living with his in-laws and says he plans to rebuild with Fema's $31,000 (£23,278) assistance, but will need another $50,000 (£37,545) to finish it.

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Blanca Rivera and Eduard Rodriguez pose with a printed photo of them that was taken in September 2017 as they slept in their car after their home was destroyed by Hurricane Maria in the San Lorenzo neighbourhood of Morovis, Puerto Rico, last Saturday.

The couple says Fema rejected their request for financial help to rebuild, so they sold their car to build a room next to his mother's house, behind.