Team to review hurricane death toll

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO — Puerto Rico’s governor announced Thursday that a team of experts at George Washington University will lead an independent, in-depth review to determine the number of deaths caused by Hurricane Maria amid accusations that the U.S. territory has undercounted the toll.

The team, led by the dean and an epidemiologist of the university’s school of public health, expects to have a preliminary report in three months and a final report in one year.

“We will call it as we see it,” said Dean Lynn Goldman.

The administration of Gov. Ricardo Rossello had maintained that 64 people died as a result of the Category 4 hurricane that hit on Sept. 20 with winds of up to 250 kilometres per hour. But critics have said the death toll is much higher, with demographers saying that a spike in the number of deaths after the storm was not normal.

Puerto Rico recorded an official average of 82 deaths a day in the two weeks before Maria hit. The number increased to 117 a day after the storm pummeled the island in mid-September and then fell below usual in October.

Government officials have rejected media reports that suggest hundreds of people died as a direct result of the storm, but Rossello called for a review of the death toll in late December.

He said on Thursday that his administration wants to rely on the most up-to-date science to get more clarity.