Harvard study: At least 4,645 died in Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria - Polidicks

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/harvard-study-estimates-thousands-died-in-puerto-rico-due-to-hurricane-maria/2018/05/29/1a82503a-6070-11e8-a4a4-c070ef53f315_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.499412d77b85 At least 4,645 people died as a result of Hurricane Maria and its devastation across Puerto Rico last year, according to a new Harvard study released Tuesday, an estimate that far exceeds the official government death toll, which stands at 64. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that health-care disruption for the elderly and the loss of basic utility services for the chronically ill had significant impacts across the U.S. territory, which was thrown into chaos after the September hurricane wiped out the electrical grid and had widespread impacts on infrastructure. Some communities were entirely cut off for weeks amid road closures and communications failures. Researchers in the United States and Puerto Rico, led by scientists at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, calculated the number of deaths by surveying nearly 3,300 randomly chosen households across the island and comparing the estimated post-hurricane death rate to the mortality rate for the year before. Their surveys indicated that the mortality rate was 14.3 deaths per 1,000 residents from Sept. 20 through Dec. 31, 2017, a 62 percent increase in the mortality rate compared to 2016, or 4,645 “excess deaths.” “Our results indicate that the official death count of 64 is a substantial underestimate of the true burden of mortality after Hurricane Maria,” the authors wrote. Altered the headline to reflect the actual number instead of just "thousands." That's more than 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina combined. And our government is acting like it didn't even happen, claiming only 64 died. Despicable.

There's no terrorists to blame this time, and the Americans that died aren't white, so you couldn't make the current Administration care.

This is disgusting. Makes the paper towel roll stunt even worse in hindsight. Imagine censoring official natural disaster death tolls in order to try and save face.

For comparison, 1,833 people died in Hurricane Katrina, a hurricane that was so bad that it still tops google search results when "hurricane" is entered, and is still often the #1 Hurricane that comes to mind when one thinks of hurricanes. Hurricane Maria had potential DOUBLE that death toll, and caused just $30 billion less damage than Katrina and Harvey(both were $125 billion), and it has been virtually entirely neglected by the Trump admin.

When Puerto Rico is still a territory but still gets ignored because it's not an actual state. Also holy shit, the metrics on the collateral are insane. I feel bad not hearing about this sooner.

No they are white. 80% of Puerto Rico is white.

How many of these deaths could have been prevented?

Probably not many without better infrastructure. The true shame of this situation is how badly the US handled reconstruction after the fact.

This administration can add "Largest Humanitarian Disaster Swept Under the Rug in the US" to it's growing list of this to brag about. Absolutely dreadful fuckup of massive proportions.

Katrina was also happen on mainland, where as Puerto Rico is an island in the middle of the ocean. It's a lot harder to get supplies and help in when you can't deliver it as easily. Not to mention you can't send planes when all the runways are destroyed.

I understand the initial issues with infrastructure and logistics, but they actually had the Airports up and running within about two weeks. The main problem was a lack of actual support from Trump himself. Right after the disaster struck: -Due to the dumbass nationalism that plagues his administration, he refused the help of foreign vessels until the Governor personally requested it -Complained about how the island 'threw his budget out of whack' -Insulted the mayor of San Juan and Puerto Rican's in general by saying progress is slow because 'they want everything done for them' -Didn't put his full support behind FEMA's actions in Puerto Rico such as when he said "We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!" -And I'm not 100% but I'm pretty sure he cut the US disaster budget either shortly before the Hurricane's, or right after

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/05/29/trump-once-favorably-compared-puerto-ricos-death-toll-to-katrinas-a-new-study-shows-more-than-twice-as-many-died/ Trump once tried to make himself look good by bragging that PR's death toll was way below Katrina. Turns out it's substantially worse than Katrina. Oops.

Maybe they'll use it to shoot the next hurricane away. What good is a massive defense budget when we can't even protect Americans from the elements.

This is semantics. Peurto Ricans are Latino and most do not appear remotely white, I have Peurto Rican family and have been there plenty of times. Being "Technically" white means little.

Reading that really made me feel sick. Such an enormous loss of life and it was being hidden (or still offically is).