Eight days after Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico, life essentials like food, water and fuel remain scarce on the island. "We have no idea of the full magnitude.Nothing good happens after eight days in the tropics without food or water". Among other things, the law mandated that ships carrying cargo and passengers between U.S. ports must be built in the United States and owned by Americans. In addition to this year's hurricane response of more than $30 million, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have donated more than $60 million since 2005 in cash and in-kind donations in response to disaster events. Diapers, for example, are often requested. The governor retweeted her post with a "Thank you @POTUS" - referring to Trump's official Twitter handle. We continue to identify ways to help our members get the care they need in a timely fashion and the Government has made those in need of healthcare a top priority.

Give to established charitiesGuideStar's website has a database that lets you vet charities. "It's like New Age Christmas lights: You lose a bulb here and there, but you don't lose all of them".

The devastation caused by Maria, especially to the electric infrastructure, will make this activity difficult to sustain.

The delivery of relief supplies has been hampered by roads rendered impassable by fallen trees or flooding.

Sunnova Energy Corp., the U.S. territory's largest rooftop solar-power supplier, has no idea whether its 10,000 systems survived back-to-back hurricanes this month.

Trump says "they want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort".

On Thursday, the Trump administration waived a law to allow foreign vessels to assist in Puerto Rico's relief effort.

Triple-S Management is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

In making the case for so-called microgrids, environmental nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute pointed to solar installations on the Turks and Caicos islands that remained largely intact while the local utility reported more than 1,200 poles down. The current is fast. "We can't do much", Gonzalez said, but they've been doing what they can to help people who show up at the station.

Following a request from the governor of Puerto Rico, Trump said his administration was "thinking about" waiving the law on Wednesday. There are 20 helicopters bringing supplies to the island.

TimingDonations often pour in immediately after disaster strikes but peter out during the long recovery process.

An Army brigadier general will take over command of the military response, which will include additional medical facilities and satellite communications equipment, said John Cornelio, spokesman at U.S. Northern Command. Individual components of the grid may or may not fare well in a storm, but its fate would not affect other microgrids or the central grid. "But critically, what we need is equipment", and people, either national or state troops, Rossello said.

GoFundMe has a special page for Hurricane Maria pleas for charities, individuals and families.

The waiver aimed to "ensure we have enough fuel and commodities to support lifesaving efforts, respond to the storm, and restore critical services and critical infrastructure operations", Duke said.

Hold off on material donationsDonating food, clothing and household items can complicate and even hinder relief efforts, experts say.

Pilgrim and ABC News' Joshua Hoyos reached the storm-ravaged Vieques, an island municipality of Puerto Rico just 7 miles away, where they found "no power, no running water" and a hospital "so severely damaged that it has been forced to set up a temporary triage tent outside to treat patients".