San Juan, Puerto Rico (CNN) Puerto Ricans are struggling with day-to-day survival despite government and military efforts to help get the US commonwealth back on its feet more than a week after Hurricane Maria's landfall.

Nearly half of gas stations on the island are still closed. Thousands of shipping containers with vital aid are sitting idle at the Port of San Juan. And many banks remain shuttered or low on money, while businesses accept only cash.

"A response to an incident like this is complex, it's difficult and it's not nearly as fast as any of us want," John Rabin, acting regional administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told reporters Thursday at press conference in San Juan. "Hurricane Maria was catastrophic to Puerto Rico."

Rabin said that FEMA has given $17 million in aid to the island.

Puerto Rico faces a significant distribution challenge, with about 9,500 containers carrying food, water, medicine and other supplies stuck at San Juan's port, according to Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló.

An official with the shipping company Crowley Maritme said later Thursday that at least 10,000 containers were sitting at the port.

Crowley said Wednesday it alone had 3,000 of those idle containers and had only been able to dispatch 4% of its load.

Roadblocks in delivering aid

A myriad of problems makes it difficult to transport desperately needed aid throughout the island. Among them: Only a fifth of truck drivers have reported back to work at the port, a representative for the governor said Wednesday. It's impossible to contact many drivers since cell phone service and electricity are still down, and it also remains difficult to get gas for vehicles.

Debris continues to block roads on the island, whose infrastructure needed major repairs even before Maria hit.

Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean An apartment building is missing a wall in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Monday, September 25, nearly a week after Hurricane Maria devastated the US commonwealth. Power is still out in most places, and communications remain almost nonexistent on the island of 3.4 million people. Hide Caption 1 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Yancy Leon rests at the Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport near San Juan on September 25. She's been waiting in line for two days to get a flight out. Hide Caption 2 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean An aerial view shows the flooding in San Juan on September 25. Hide Caption 3 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean People collect water from a natural spring created by landslides in Corozal, Puerto Rico, on Sunday, September 24. Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said the island faces a humanitarian crisis. Hide Caption 4 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean An aerial view shows a flooded neighborhood in Catano, Puerto Rico, on Friday, September 22. Hide Caption 5 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A man cleans a muddy street in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, on September 22. Hide Caption 6 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A man walks on a highway divider while carrying his bicycle through San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Thursday, September 21. Hide Caption 7 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A shack is destroyed in San Juan on September 21. Hide Caption 8 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A gas station's sign is damaged in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, as the hurricane passed just north of the country on September 21. Hide Caption 9 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Rescue workers drive through a flooded road in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on Wednesday, September 20. Hide Caption 10 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A mattress that fell from the third floor is surrounded by debris outside a San Juan apartment complex on September 20. Hide Caption 11 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Damage is seen in Roseau, Dominica, on September 20. Hide Caption 12 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean People walk through the destruction in Roseau on September 20. Hide Caption 13 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean San Juan is shrouded in darkness after the hurricane knocked out power to the entire island of Puerto Rico. Hide Caption 14 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Power lines are scattered across a road in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on September 20. Hide Caption 15 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Residents move aluminum panels from an intersection in Humacao on September 20. Hide Caption 16 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Rescue vehicles are trapped under an awning in Humacao on September 20. Hide Caption 17 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Trees are toppled outside the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan on September 20. Hide Caption 18 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Members of a rescue team embrace as they wait to help in Humacao on September 20. Hide Caption 19 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A tree is damaged in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, on September 20. Hide Caption 20 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Debris is strewn across a Fajardo street on September 20. Hide Caption 21 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A woman closes her property in Naguabo, Puerto Rico, hours before Maria's arrival. Hide Caption 22 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean People take shelter at Puerto Rico's Humacao Arena on Tuesday, September 19. Hide Caption 23 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Two girls play on cots at the Humacao Arena. Hide Caption 24 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Waves crash in San Juan as the hurricane neared Puerto Rico on September 19. Hide Caption 25 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean People pray in Humacao on September 19. Hide Caption 26 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A street is flooded in Pointe-a-Pitre, on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, on September 19. Hide Caption 27 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean People stand near debris at a restaurant in Le Carbet, Martinique, on September 19. Hide Caption 28 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean People in Luquillo, Puerto Rico, board up windows of a business on September 19. Hide Caption 29 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A boat is overturned off the shore of Sainte-Anne, Guadeloupe, on September 19. Hide Caption 30 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Cars line up at a gas station in San Juan on September 19. Hide Caption 31 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A motorist drives on the flooded waterfront in Fort-de-France, Martinique, on September 19. Hide Caption 32 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Floodwaters surround cars in Pointe-a-Pitre on September 19. Hide Caption 33 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Soldiers patrol a street in Marigot, St. Martin, as preparations were made for Maria on September 19. Hide Caption 34 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean People buy provisions in Petit-Bourg, Guadeloupe, as the hurricane approached on Monday, September 18. Hide Caption 35 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Customers wait in line for power generators at a store in San Juan on September 18. Hide Caption 36 of 36

"They are problems without precedent," Rosselló said Thursday at the press conference. "After two hurricanes, this infrastructure has honestly collapsed."

But Rosselló cited some progress since Maria struck last week, not too long after Hurricane Irma had brushed the island.

He said that 689 of the island's 1,100 gas stations are operating Thursday. A government-mandated evening curfew to prevent looting on the island is being lifted Thursday for truck drivers carrying essentials, he said, and certain gas stations will be designated just for trucks at night.

Also Thursday, President Donald Trump granted Puerto Rico a 10-day waiver from the Jones Act, a federal law that limits shipping to US ports by foreign vessels. Rosselló had asked the White House to loosen the regulations as a way to speed up aid to the island.

Scrambling for cash

Many Puerto Ricans are running low on money, and banks can't get enough armored trucks with gas, or truck drivers, to deliver the cash safely. Banks are also struggling to get software and safety systems back online , according to Zoime Alvarez, vice president of the Association of Banks of Puerto Rico.

Rosselló said that 86 bank branches were working as of Thursday.

Banco Popular, one of Puerto Rico's biggest banks, said Wednesday that 57 of its 169 bank branches were open.

"It will take us awhile. It's been a big blow," Ignacio Alvarez, the bank's president and CEO, told CNN.

Many restaurants, supermarkets and gas stations will only accept cash because credit card systems are still down. The result is long lines almost everywhere in San Juan, with gas stations and supermarkets rationing food and gas.

Hospitals and other medical facilities have been struggling to provide care in Maria's wake. The lack of working generators and diesel to fuel those generators have put patients at risk.

But 44 of 69 hospitals on the island are now operational, according to FEMA. The Department of Health and Human Services has also established six "super shelters" on the island to provide health care.