Trump defends response to Puerto Rico hurricane disaster

Washington : US President Donald Trump defended the government relief response to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico on Tuesday and promised to visit the island next week.

Trump also said that he would travel to the US Virgin Islands, another American territory in the Caribbean that was slammed by a pair of powerful storms.

"Both have been devastated, and I mean absolutely devastated," the president told reporters at a joint press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

"Puerto Rico got hit by two hurricanes... And they were among biggest we've ever seen."

Relief efforts were complicated by the fact that it is an island, which now faces a "long and very, very difficult restoration process," Trump said.

Rejecting accusations Puerto Rico has not received the same level of assistance as storm-hit US states Florida and Texas, Trump said a "massive relief effort is underway."

He said he had ordered all relevant agencies and the military to do "everything in their power" to help residents of Puerto Rico.

"We are unloading on an hourly basis massive loads of water and food and supplies for Puerto Rico," Trump said, adding that he would visit there on Tuesday.

US officials said 16 ships -- US Coast Guard and US Navy vessels -- were taking part in the relief effort, bringing generators, food and water.

The Pentagon said the USNS Comfort, a 1,000-bed hospital ship based in Virgina, would also set sail for Puerto Rico.