OpenFEMA anota 1,722 solicitantes de ayuda pública en Puerto Rico

For the press following the recovery in Puerto Rico, the directory of who requests public assistance is not in a COR3 statement: it is in the open dataset Public Assistance Applicants v1 from OpenFEMA. The official page of the dataset —https://www.fema.gov/openfema-data-page/public-assistance-applicants-v1— describes it as the list of applicants (subrecipients) that complements the sister dataset Public Assistance Funded Projects Details. It begins with the declaration DR-1239 (1998). The API endpoint is https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v1/PublicAssistanceApplicants. The published update frequency is daily (R/P1D). What the journalist gets here is the identity of the applicant, not a check or a total in billions.

In the run observed on September 17, 2026 (rundate of the metadata at 16:18 UTC; lastRefresh of the rows at 15:08 UTC), the filter state eq 'Puerto Rico' with $inlinecount=allpages reported 1,722 applicant records. That number is a row count of the dataset, not an obligated amount, not a HUD awarded, and not a disbursed amount to the final beneficiary. Whoever converts 1,722 into “1,722 projects” or into “X billion of aid” is inventing a metric that the dataset does not publish.

The fields that OpenFEMA documents in this version are, among others, disasterNumber, applicantId (unique identifier of the Public Assistance applicant), state, applicantName (name of the entity requesting the grant; eligible applicants are subgrantees), addressLine1, addressLine2, city, and zipCode. Hash, lastRefresh, and row id also appear. There are no columns for federalShareObligated or totalObligated in this dataset: those exist in Funded Projects Details. The documentation of the related dataset itself states that applicant details are obtained by linking both by Applicant ID. Applicant ≠ Project Worksheet. A municipality can have one applicantId and dozens of PWs obligated in the other dataset.

To prioritize disaster reporting, the same filter by disasterNumber allows you to see the distribution of rows in the same window. DR-4339 (Hurricane María) concentrated 666 applicants in Puerto Rico; DR-4671 (Hurricane Fiona) 246; DR-4473 (earthquakes) 85; DR-4850 (Tropical Storm Ernesto) 56; DR-4336 (Hurricane Irma) 51; and DR-4017 (Hurricane Irene, 2011) 79. Again: these are counts of applicants, not sums of millions or billions. They are useful for knowing how many entities appear in the directory per declaration, not for making up a “total reconstruction.”

Within María, an additional filter for names containing “Municipio” returned 79 rows. In the API sample, for example, Arroyo (Municipio) with applicantId 015-99015-00, Isabela 071-99071-00, Maunabo 095-99095-00, Utuado 141-99141-00, and Ciales 039-99039-00 appear. In Fiona, the row count with “Municipio” in the name was 78; the sample includes Naranjito (105-99105-00, Calle Georgetti #40, Casa Alcaldía), Patillas (109-99109-00), Guayama (057-32221-00), Añasco, and Isabela. Citing a row as a pedagogical example is legitimate; extrapolating that row to a total for the Island is not.

The dataset also lists private non-profit organizations and special boards, not just city halls. In the DR-4339 sample appear, among others, the Advisory Board of the Church of the Nazarene, Eastern District of Puerto Rico, Inc. (Carolina, zip 00985, applicantId 127-UTNHS-00), the 911 System Government Board in San Juan, and academies and centers in Aguada, Bayamón, Cidra, Caguas, and San Juan. In the DR-4473, the sample includes Centro Cristiano de Restauración Vida Abundante CCRVA, Inc. in Mayagüez (applicantId 097-USOPJ-00). This reminds the reader that Public Assistance covers state, local, and tribal governments and certain eligible private nonprofits — not individual household assistance.

How to work with the dataset without misleading the public: (1) annotate rundate and lastRefresh because OpenFEMA gets refreshed and yesterday's count is not tomorrow's; (2) cross-check applicantId with Public Assistance Funded Projects Details when you need to see obligated PW; (3) do not confuse a count of applicants with a count of projects or an amount; (4) use $select and paginate with $skip/$top; (5) remember the institutional warning reproduced in the data catalog: the information comes from EMMIE, not from FEMA's official financial systems, it may differ slightly from usaspending.gov, and the dataset is not intended for official federal reporting. Obligated ≠ disbursed ≠ awarded ≠ allotted.

For writing in San Juan, Ponce, or Mayagüez, the practical value is a battery of questions: does this municipality or this PNP appear as an applicant in OpenFEMA for María, Fiona, or Ernesto? What is its applicantId? How many obligated PWs does that Id have in the project dataset? Do the address and zip in the record match the headquarters you cite? That pipeline turns a federal directory into a local scrutiny tool. This dataset does not include —and it must be said— Housing Assistance / IHP, HUD CDBG-DR/MIT, and the DHS OIG findings. Cousin: 749 (Funded Projects Details v2). Topic: economy. Primary source: OpenFEMA Public Assistance Applicants v1 page and API query of September 17, 2026.