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posted by martyb on Wednesday August 29 2018, @06:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the R.I.P. dept.

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


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 29 2018, @08:12PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 29 2018, @08:12PM (#727987)

    The US government made money available. If they had released it slower to avoid mismanagement, they would have been criticized. Mismanagement and corruption happened, so they are being criticized. The mayor of San Juan made political capital in (mainland) US by having a spat with Donald Trump. I don't know if that extends to the governorship of the island, but the revision of the death toll to be in the thousands is politically controversial and includes people who died not due to the hurricane itself, but because of the disorganization afterwards.

    The streets of San Juan had loads of crews from the mainland hanging around enjoying the city in January. I have no idea whether there were other crews hard at work in the interior, but it seemed to me like many ~5 men crews signed up for a government paid trip to PR, and were unable to be dispatched to be useful somewhere. People in the interior complained that no help was coming to them, but it was not like they got busy organizing among themselves to reopen roads or restoring infrastructure. I heard that people who had planned ahead and bought generators instead had them stolen by their neighbors.

    Must be the sun down South that is responsible for the fecklessness of the local population.