In percentage terms, the loss to the Puerto Rican economy is on par with the most heavily hit states during the Great Recession. For Puerto Rico, Maria could be as economically costly as the 1997 Asian financial crisis was to Indonesia and Thailand and more than twice as damaging as the 1994 Peso Crisis was to Mexico — but this time on American soil.

But this doesn’t need to become Puerto Rico’s destiny. Sufficient, timely, sustained and well-designed disaster relief from Washington can help mitigate Maria’s impact. The island’s electrical grid needs to be rebuilt from scratch, and fast, to deliver lifesaving services now and to enable broader recovery and reinvestment in the months ahead. Thousands of buildings need to be repaired or replaced.

Timely assistance can help ensure that this construction can happen without bankrupting families and small businesses, which would deprive Puerto Rico of private investment and household spending at the very moment it’s most needed. Research has shown that people tend to leave storm-battered areas if there’s not prompt outside support to rebuild and reinvest. If there is that support, people are more likely to remain.

The Puerto Rican government has little ability to finance reconstruction of roads, power communications and other infrastructure, and these will need to be built differently, because Maria is certainly not the last storm we will see. Smart investments now can reduce the economic damage the next time.

Attempting to grasp the true scale of devastation in the wake of Maria is mind-bending and heartbreaking. As Congress considers a Hurricane Maria aid package, it should not ignore these numbers. It is in everyone’s interest to try to keep Puerto Rico’s economy from falling into the abyss. And most important, we have a mutual duty to one another as Americans.