Island targets storm-death doubt
University set to lead independent count in Puerto Rico
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 over 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. “That I promise you.”
The administration of Gov. Ricardo Rossello had maintained that 64 people died as a result of the Category 4 hurricane that hit Sept. 20 with winds of up to 154 mph. But critics have said the death toll is much higher, noting 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.
Rossello said his administration wants to rely on the most up-to-date science to get more clarity about the number of victims.
“I want to know the truth,” he said. “It’s important for those who have lost loved ones.”
Goldman said the team will review all deaths from September until the end of February, relying on death certificates in addition to possible funeral home and hospital visits and interviews with family members and doctors. The team also will review mortality records from the past 10 years to calculate possible excess deaths and analyze the process that Puerto Rico used to count victims. She said the type of research her team will be doing could lead to an improved U.S. model for estimating deaths after a disaster.
“Worldwide, these methods are not sufficiently developed,” she said, adding that she will be working alongside Puerto Rican officials. “Despite the best efforts of many people to care for people in the aftermath of this disaster … it hasn’t always been possible for the records to be kept in a way that they normally are.”
Puerto Rico government officials have rejected media reports that suggest hundreds of people died as a direct result of the storm, and Rossello called for a review of the death toll in late December. The current toll includes some of those who died from heart attacks, suicide and respiratory failure, but one report by researchers including the director of applied demography at Pennsylvania State University estimates that there were nearly 500 excess deaths in Puerto Rico in September.
Victims’ relatives note the storm left the entire island of 3.3 million people without power, including those in hospitals and nursing homes who relied on respirators and other electric equipment.
The first phase of the review will cost the government $305,000, officials said, adding that the second phase could cost up to $1.1 million and be paid for through grants given that the U.S. territory is mired in an 11-year recession and struggling to restructure a portion of its $73 billion public debt load.
On Wednesday, officials said crews that are helping restore power in Puerto Rico as part of a $750 million federal contract plan to leave the U.S. territory soon, while nearly a quarter of a million customers remain in the dark more than five months after the hurricane hit.
Brian Mershon, a spokesman for Texas-based Fluor Corp., said the contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is ending, in part because no further funding is available. He said that after Sunday, some 1,600 workers and 1,300 pieces of equipment will remain in Puerto Rico, compared with a peak of 3,000 workers and 2,000 pieces of equipment.
“Crews who will remain in the U.S. territory for upcoming weeks will continue to restore power and complete assignments based on available funding and materials,” he said. “This is a normal part of the life cycle of large government projects.”
Fluor recently said it has helped restore power to more than 230,000 customers.
Preston Chasteen, a spokesman for the Corps of Engineers, said the agency and all its contractors still have a total of more than 3,600 workers in Puerto Rico to help restore power after the hurricane caused the longest blackout in U.S. history.
Chasteen said the agency aims to have between 90 to 95 percent of customers with power by the end of March, but some Puerto Ricans worry they will remain in the dark when the Atlantic hurricane season starts June 1.