dagblog - Comments for "Stunning new Hurricane Maria death toll confirms Puerto Rico’s devastating losses after the storm "

Fact CheckerAnalysis Did

artappraiser — Sat, 02 Jun 2018 22:38:00 +0000

In reply to Stunning new Hurricane Maria death toll confirms Puerto Rico’s devastating losses after the storm

Fact CheckerAnalysis Did exactly 4,645 people die in Hurricane Maria? Nope.

By Glenn Kessler @ WashingtonPost.com, June 1

In effect, researchers took one number — 15 deaths identified from a survey of 3,299 households — and extrapolated that to come up with 4,645 deaths across Puerto Rico.

After Hurricanes Maria and

artappraiser — Sat, 02 Jun 2018 02:40:09 +0000

In reply to Stunning new Hurricane Maria death toll confirms Puerto Rico’s devastating losses after the storm

After Hurricanes Maria and Irma, Puerto Rico all but slipped from the modern era. The human and economic damage wrought by all that time without power may be irreparable. https://t.co/gZPPJFNaNZ
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 8, 2018

From 2012: "The new Puerto

NCD — Thu, 31 May 2018 03:26:34 +0000

In reply to Stunning new Hurricane Maria death toll confirms Puerto Rico’s devastating losses after the storm

From 2012: "The new Puerto Rico government doesn't support statehood," one House aide said flatly, speaking of the new governor.

In today's political climate, not having statehood would seem to be unwise, particularly when disaster strikes. Two senators would go a long way in D.C.

I do wonder, though, how many

barefooted — Thu, 31 May 2018 02:47:19 +0000

In reply to Stunning new Hurricane Maria death toll confirms Puerto Rico’s devastating losses after the storm

I do wonder, though, how many more deaths would be attributed to past storms if measured by the same standards as used in the Harvard study.

A Wapo piece states (my bold):

The Harvard findings indicate that health-care disruption for the elderly and the loss of basic utility services for the chronically ill had significant impacts, and the study criticized Puerto Rico’s methods for counting the dead — and its lack of transparency in sharing information — as detrimental to planning for future natural disasters.

Doesn't it always? And:

Researchers in the mainland 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 almost 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 with 2016, or 4,645 “excess deaths.”

If those types of surveys were done and similarly analyzed after, say, Katrina, what would they have found?

There are clearly deaths in the thousands that were caused by, but not officially attributed to, Hurricane Maria - many if not most caused by breakdowns in federal assistance and general disregard for Puerto Ricans as Americans. There is blame to be spread and shared; harsh lessons to be learned. But is it all that new, really? Don't you imagine there are families of lost souls who need so much - still, today - because of Andrew, Hugo, Katrina ... pick a letter. Maybe when the numbers mean more (the overlooked ones) in the future the deaths from the past will be acknowledged.

Democrats Excoriate Trump

artappraiser — Wed, 30 May 2018 20:10:46 +0000

In reply to Stunning new Hurricane Maria death toll confirms Puerto Rico’s devastating losses after the storm

Democrats Excoriate Trump After Death Toll Revelations in Puerto Rico
@ Roll Call-5 hours ago

Dem lawmaker: Trump must be held accountable for Puerto Rico deaths
@ The Hill-3 hours ago

Trump a 10? No, Say Puerto Rico's 4600 Dead
@ In-Depth-Bloomberg-7 hours ago

Trump is responsible for

artappraiser — Wed, 30 May 2018 19:49:06 +0000

In reply to Stunning new Hurricane Maria death toll confirms Puerto Rico’s devastating losses after the storm

Trump is responsible for Puerto Rico

Op-ed by Jennifer Rubin @ WashingtonPost.com, May 30

[....]

You may recall that President Trump boasted about the low number of fatalities during his visit [....]

One wonders how proud Trump is now and whether he realizes a natural disaster — in which he showed far less interest than Houston’s Hurricane Harvey — on his watch had nearly three times as many fatalities as Katrina. Further study is warranted to determine how many of those who died were victims of government negligence in the weeks and even months following Hurricane Maria. To the extent that deaths were preventable, the responsibility rests on the administration’s shoulders. After all, Trump took credit (with Puerto Rican officials) for the low death count. Logically, they are all responsible for a death toll that, for comparison’s sake, is higher than the 9-11 death count (just under 3,000).

If we had a responsible Congress that took oversight seriously there would be a top-to-bottom review of the response. Individuals responsible for the rescue and rebuilding would be questioned under oath. Appropriate punishment would be doled out if it were determined that the body count was intentionally suppressed and, more important, if deaths could have been prevented. But don’t hold your breath — at least for the remainder of this year [....]

The Secret Buried in the

artappraiser — Wed, 30 May 2018 19:46:02 +0000

In reply to Stunning new Hurricane Maria death toll confirms Puerto Rico’s devastating losses after the storm

The Secret Buried in the Puerto Rican Death Toll

Why didn't our government bother to accurately count the dead?

By Jeff Goodell @ RollingStone.com, May 30

[....] During the hurricane and its aftermath, Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rosselló has hardly been a profile in courage. Not surprisingly, his office responded to the new death toll with a weak statement t outing a study they have commissioned with George Washington University: [....]

But other political leaders in Puerto Rico have been outspoken. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who became a hero to many Puerto Ricans for her willingness to criticize President Trump and FEMA's recovery efforts, immediately raised the provocative idea that the low official death toll wasn't an oversight, or a sign of incompetence, but a deliberate cover-up. [....] Given what's a stake, Mayor Cruz and others will undoubtedly have more to say about this "cover-up" – if that's the right word – in the upcoming days and weeks.

Was the lack of interest in an accurate death count a product of racism in the Trump administration? Was it an attempt to avoid paying burial expenses and death benefits to Puerto Ricans? There are already calls for a congressional investigation. But if nothing else, this new study underscores the loss and suffering of Puerto Ricans in the aftermath of the storm, as well as the cost of Trump's arrogance and incompetency. While he was tossing out paper towels, Americans were dying [....]