Вильяльба: Город в Пуэрто-Рико и восстановление после урагана Мария

Town and municipality in Puerto Rico

Villalba (biˈʎalβa), originally known as Villa Alba, is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the central region, northeast of Juana Díaz; south of Orocovis; and west of Coamo. Villalba is spread over 6 barrios and Villalba Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city). It is part of the Ponce Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Villalba was founded in 1917 by José Ramón Figueroa y Rivera and Walter McJones. Its current mayor is Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz. By 1918, there weren't any highways connecting Villalba to its neighboring towns but by 1927 there was at least one. Hurricane Maria passed through the area on September 20, 2017 and triggered numerous landslides in Villalba with significant rainfall. Bridges were destroyed and many areas where vital infrastructure was located were inaccessible. The entire electrical system was destroyed. Villalba's emergency operations center and an assisted living center were among the many buildings destroyed in Villalba. Villalba received 27.82 inches of rain. The mayor's stated “Our main need is oxygen. Many people depend on oxygen through artificial respirators that require electricity.". "From Catastrophe to Hope" (De la catastrofe a la esperanza), a documentary describing the destruction of infrastructure in Villalba and how volunteers, community members, the mayor, and emergency service personnel worked to try to save people's lives was published in 2019 by Noticias de Villalba (Villalba News). The mountainous geography of Villalba made restoring electricity and water services extremely challenging. Chaplains, and religious leaders of all denominations, provided emotional support to all involved. Subsequent to the hurricane, in 2018, Javier Hernández, the mayor discussed other options for electrical power, such as micro grids, for Villalba, with the mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, reminding him that recovery from such a powerful hurricane would take years. Architect Jonathan Marvel talked about his company's plans to build an off the grid, 41 unit building in Villalba on the one year anniversary of Hurricane Maria.

Barrios (which are like minor civil divisions) are further subdivided into smaller areas called sectores (sectors in English). The types of sectores may vary, from normally sector to urbanización to reparto to barriada to residencial, among others.

Comunidades Especiales de Puerto Rico (Special Communities of Puerto Rico) are marginalized communities whose citizens are experiencing a certain amount of social exclusion. A map shows these communities occur in nearly every municipality of the commonwealth. Of the 742 places that were on the list in 2014, the following barrios, communities, sectors, or neighborhoods were in Villalba: Chino neighborhood, Cooperativa neighborhood, Hato Puerco Arriba, Apeaderos, Sector Cubones in Caonillas Arriba, Palmarejo in Villalba Arriba, Céspedes in Pino, Cerro Gordo and Sector El Semil in Villalba Arriba.

An Energy Consortium was signed in late February, 2019 by the mayors of Villalba, Orocovis, Morovis, Ciales and Barranquitas municipalities. The consortium is the first of its kind for the island. It is intended to have municipalities work together to safeguard their communities, in the event of a catastrophe, by creating resilient, and efficient energy networks with backups.

Coffee, green pigeon peas.

Manufacturing of aluminum packaging and electrical and electronic machinery, nutritional products, medical devices, and others.

Villalba celebrates its patron saint festival in July. The Fiestas Patronales de Nuestra Sra. del Carmen is a religious and cultural celebration that generally features parades, games, artisans, amusement rides, regional food, and live entertainment. In 2017, Villalba celebrated the 100th year of its founding.

All municipalities in Puerto Rico are administered by a mayor, elected every four years. Waldemar Rivera Torres (of the Popular Democratic Party) served as mayor since 2005 to 2012. The current mayor is Javier (Javi) Hernández who was elected in 2013. The city belongs to the Puerto Rico Senatorial district VI, which is represented by two senators. In 2012, Miguel Pereira Castillo and Angel M. Rodríguez were elected as District Senators.

The municipio has an official flag and coat of arms.

Four horizontal, unequal stripes in width, that from top to bottom have the following order: green, white, green and yellow. In the immediate side to the flagstaff, in the superior stripe, appears, in white color, the star of the shield.

On a green background, representing land, a 19th century villa, reflected by six homes and a church in silver and red, the church is adorned with the shield of Carmelites, and a white star prominently displays and shines over the villa. Around its border are five fig leaves. Atop are three golden towers.