365 days after my business was destroyed by Hurricane Maria

Exactly today...

365 days have passed since Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico.  For most people, it is a date they dread to remember.  Sadness and suffering are feelings that gloom over this fateful day.  

It's very difficult to describe in words the effects of a category 5 hurricane on your home, your family and your business. The last time a big hurricane hit Puerto Rico was back in 1989 when Hugo struck us as a category 3.  Since then you might think that we learned from that lesson and were ready for whatever fate had for us. 

Well, as most of you know, we weren't ready at all.  The island had been suffering for a 10+ year economic recession and the effects of it could be seen before the hurricane. After Maria hit us, almost nothing was left. Including my business. 

Aeronet...
was a project I started 17 years ago as a solution to a problem I had.  Back then I had no broadband Internet at my home so I decided to brush up my tech skills and my telecom background and after some research, I hacked together a wireless system to beam Internet from the retail business I had back then in San Juan 8 miles down to the suburbs on a small hill where I could then repeat it to my neighborhood. 

AeroNet's first website circa 2002

What started as a personal quest, soon converted into a 1-man shop/company, then 16 years later AeroNet grew to a 50+ employees enterprise that provides Business Class Telecommunications solutions to over 5000 customers in Puerto Rico, USVI and South Florida. 

All changed 365 days ago...

As soon as I could, I drove to AeroNet headquarters (about a 15 minutes drive).  I took me about an hour and half to maneuver over all the debris in the highway.  I was received by a small group of staff members that volunteer to stay at our offices, their faces told me all I needed to know.  Our whole operation was damaged by the hurricane, all our fiber backbone connections to the Internet were down, power was out throughout all our sites in the island, and we were by most standards out of business. 

Collapsed Tower

No time to quit... 

I had a huge responsibility on my shoulders towards our employees and towards our customers.  There were never any thoughts on quitting or balking at the task at hand. It was not an option!  We had to rebuild and rebuild fast! On Friday, September 22 we started rebuilding. 

The rebuilding process was an enormous effort that required the uppermost cooperation from all the team members at our organization.  During the weeks after the hurricane, we went to great lengths to accommodate all the needs of our employees and customers.  We provided shelter to some employees and their families, provided food, provided gasoline among other needs, but what really gave me most satisfaction was that we provided a home for everyone. 

We worked 7 days a week, 12-16 hours per day and we made it!  By end of November, our telecom network was about 80% up.  By the end of January, 98% up!  This great feat was really achieved by our great team.  All the members of our company contributed to this expedite recovery and have made us a stronger and more cohesive organization. 

Looking Back...

I learned from this experience what commitment, dedication, devotion, and, responsibility truly mean.  I learned them from my family, from our customers, from our team. I hope we never have to go through this experience again, but if we must, We Are Ready... We Are #PuertoRicoStrong

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