things that matter

New Study Shows More People Died Due To Hurricane Maria Than Originally Reported

The Guardian / YouTube
By May 29, 2018 at 4:36 pm

According to a Harvard study published Tuesday, the death toll caused by Hurricane Maria likely exceeds 5,000. Authorities in Puerto Rico originally estimated that 64 people died after Maria hit the island on Sept. 20. The storm destroyed buildings and knocked out power to most of the U.S. territory, which is home to more than 3 million people. The Harvard study found that 4,645 more people died between Sept. 20 and Dec. 31, 2017, than in same period in 2016. Yet, researchers calculate there is a 95 percent likelihood the death toll was somewhere between about 800 and 8,500 people with 5,000 a likely figure.

The research team randomly selected 3,299 households in Puerto Rico for the study.

Those homes reported a total of 38 deaths, scientists then extrapolated the findings to the island’s total population of 3.4 million people to estimate the number of deaths. Researchers then subtracted fatalities recorded during that same period in 2016 and concluded that the mortality rate in Puerto Rico had jumped 62 percent in the three months after Hurricane Maria.

The Harvard study notes that in Puerto Rico every disaster-related death must be confirmed by the Institute of Forensic Sciences.

Currently only bodies that are brought to San Juan or were confirmed by a medical examiner traveling to the area are counted. Indirect deaths resulting from worsening of chronic conditions or from delayed medical treatments are not considered, according to the study.

One of the most out spoken people in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria was mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz.

In a series of tweets she said “There are many deaths caused by poor crisis management,” Adding in another post, “It took too long to understand the need for an appropriate response was NOT about politics but about saving lives.”

Many on social media are angry at the U.S. government’s slow response to the disaster.

Back in October, President Donald Trump told Puerto Rican officials they should be “very proud” that hundreds of people didn’t die after Hurricane Maria as they did in “a real catastrophe like Katrina.” Hurricane Katrina killed 1,833 people in 2005.


READ: Officials And Funeral Homes On Puerto Rico Are Reporting Vastly Different Death Toll Numbers After Hurricane Maria

Share this story with all of your friends by tapping that little share button below!

Tags: ,
We recommend
People Are Angry That The Trump Administration Has Time And Money For Notre Dame But Not Puerto Rico

The Trump administration has pledged aid to help France rebuild Notre Dame, however, Americans are asking when Puerto Rico and Flint will get U.S. aid.
She’s Not Running For President, But Oprah Did Just Donate Two Million Dollars for Disaster Relief in Puerto Rico

Still recovering from Hurricane Maria, arts and culture programs in Puerto Rico have received millions from media mogul, Oprah Winfrey. In the fall of 2017, Hurricane Maria claimed the lives of 3000 American citizens, in the US territory of Puerto Rico. However, disaster relief from the government has been slow to arrive. Fortunately, celebrities, like […]
Puerto Rico’s Airbnbs And Experienced Will Take Your Vacation To The Next Level

Aside from just straight donating to charities, visiting Puerto Rico is one of the best ways to help the island continue its recovery.

Paid Promoted Stories

Transgender Honduran Woman Died In ICE Custody, Weeks After Seeking Asylum

things that matter

Transgender Honduran Woman Died In ICE Custody, Weeks After Seeking Asylum

Diversidad Sin Fronteras / Facebook
By Araceli Cruz May 30, 2018 at 7:18 am

Last night, people gathered at the Metropolitan Courthouse in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to protest the death of Roxana Hernandez, a transgender undocumented women. Protesters blame immigration officials for the unexpected death of the 33-year-old Honduran woman who attempted to gain asylum just weeks ago.

Hernandez was part of the migrant caravan that traveled by foot from Central America to the U.S. border in April. Many of the women and children, were seeking asylum to escape the violence in their countries. According to BuzzFeed, Hernandez was attempting to flee Honduras because she faced transgender discrimination.   

Hernandez died on May 25 at the Lovelace Medical Center (LMC) in Albuquerque but had been detained on May 13 and held at the Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, New Mexico, in a transgender unit.

According to a statement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Hernandez was admitted to the hospital with symptoms of pneumonia, dehydration and complications associated with HIV.

“Later in the day she was transferred via air ambulance to LMC, where she remained in the intensive care unit until her passing. LMC medical staff pronounced her deceased May 25 at 3:32 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time, and identified the preliminary cause of death as cardiac arrest,” according to a statement.

Pueblo Sin Fronteras, the organization that assists migrants during their mission to the U.S. border, said in a Facebook post that immigration officials denied Hernandez medical care, and that she had been suffering for days.

Pueblo Sin Fronteras alleges that Hernandez “was processed and held for 5 days in the dreaded ‘icebox’ — holding cells with extremely low temperatures — in U.S. Customs & Border Protection suffering cold, lack of adequate food or medical care, with the lights on 24 hours a day, under lock & key. During her first week in the United States Roxy’s body and spirit quickly deteriorated. Once she was transferred to the immigrant prison in Cibola immigration authorities finally recognized (despite her having been in government custody for over a week) that she needed medical attention.”

According to a statement released by ICE, an agency spokesperson claims that they followed protocol and have contacted her next of kin. Hernandez is the sixth ICE detainee to die since Oct. 1, 2017. The release continues stating that Hernandez attempted to enter the U.S. illegally twice, once in 2005 and another in 2009. On Jan. 23, 2014, she illegally re-entered the country a third time, and was arrested, processed and removed March 11, 2014.

“Roxy died due to medical negligence by U.S. immigration authorities,” Pueblo Sin Fronteras stated on Facebook. “In other words, she was murdered, much like Claudia Gómez González was murdered by a Border Patrol agent’s bullet less than a week ago. Roxy died in the country she had sought to start a new life in, she died for being a transgender woman, a migrant who was treated neither with respect nor with dignity.”


READ: Here’s What Customs And Border Protection Is Now Saying About The Death Of An Undocumented Woman In Texas

Share this story with all of your friends by tapping that little share button below!

Immigrations Rights, LGBTQ, immigration