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Puerto Rican Officials Raise Hurricane Maria Death Toll to 2,975 Following GWU Report

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

takyon writes:

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: 5, Interesting) by Thexalon on Wednesday August 29 2018, @08:19PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Wednesday August 29 2018, @08:19PM (#727996)

    If the United States government isn't going to treat the island and its people as a resource that it cares about, it should cede back control to the people of the island and divest.

    So here's what's really going on: They care about the island a great deal. They'd just as soon most of its people drop dead. There's all this prime tropical coastline real estate, that's just begging for resorts, hotels, etc for tourists, and the only thing standing in their way is the property's rightful owners. So what they'll do is:
    1. Allow Puerto Rico to be unliveable.
    2. Wait for most of the Puerto Ricans to decide that maybe they should try their luck on the mainland US and sell off everything of value including their land to make the trip. This land will now be at a steep discount.
    3. Real estate developers (who may or may not just happen to be part of the presidents' companies) will then buy up the decent land, build those resorts, and poof you have a paradise for rich Americans with insane profits for said real estate developers.

    This little maneuver has happened many times before, e.g. New Orleans after Katrina.

    --
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