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Puerto Rico increases Hurricane Maria death toll to 2,975
Officials in Puerto Rico now say 2,975 people died following Hurricane Maria - a devastating storm that struck the US island territory in September 2017. The revised death toll is nearly 50 times the previous estimate of 64.
Governor Ricardo Rossello "accepted" the findings in a long-awaited independent investigation. The mayor of the capital, San Juan, accused the US government of deliberately downplaying the impact of the storm.
Puerto Rico has struggled to repair its infrastructure and power grid since the storm, and is asking US Congress for $139bn (£108bn) in recovery funds.
[...] The government's initial number was for those killed directly by the hurricane, crushed by collapsing buildings, drowned or hit by flying debris.
But the new report also counted those who died in the six months following the storm as a result of poor healthcare provision and a lack of electricity and clean water. Repeated power cuts also led to an increased number of deaths from diabetes and sepsis.
George Washington University (GWU) report: Ascertainment of the Estimated Excess Mortality from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico
Previously: Puerto Rican Death Toll From Hurricane Maria May be Many Times Higher Than Official Estimate
(Score: 5, Informative) by ikanreed on Wednesday August 29 2018, @06:46PM (6 children)
A company that had literally 2 employees but was owned by a friend of a cabinet member, was handed 300 fucking million dollars to fix puerto rico's power, and made no progress for months. This garbage was insane [washingtonpost.com]. Their "mobile headquarters" [wikipedia.org] for addressing the problem sat in port in New Orleans for the whole time their contract went on.
When they eventually hired subcontractors with actual workers, they billed $350 an hour for each lineman they had working. Of which they paid $69 an hour to the employee(which is at least a fantastic wage). Other companies offering aid at a fraction of the price never even got a callback.
Corruption is hell.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Snow on Wednesday August 29 2018, @07:05PM (2 children)
It's absolutely disgusting. It's the type of thing you would expect from a 3rd world country.
Thank God Donald is draining the swamp.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 29 2018, @07:07PM (1 child)
He's draining it from the top, sadly that just means the public gets swamp water poured all over itself. Trickle Down 2.0!!
(I feel pretty sure you were being sarcastic so I'm not poking you here)
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday August 30 2018, @04:50PM
I think that's just the displacement from adding more swamp-things.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Thexalon on Wednesday August 29 2018, @07:38PM (2 children)
One of the consistencies in the Trump administration is that both Trump and his cabinet have as their primary goal to loot the US treasury. Bear that in mind when observing anything that they do.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by SanityCheck on Thursday August 30 2018, @05:08AM (1 child)
So at the very worst he is no better than any other administration in recent history?
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Thursday August 30 2018, @09:25AM
I think it will be found that he is far "better" at it than any other administration in recent history.