Agency files lawsuit to obtain accurate data on storm deaths
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s Institute of Statistics announced Friday that it has sued the U.S. territory’s health department and demographic registry to obtain data on the number of deaths following Hurricane Maria as a growing number of critics accuse the government of lacking transparency.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday, the same day Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello told CNN that there would be “hell to pay” if officials don’t release mortality data. Puerto Rico’s Health Department released some information Friday, saying that an additional 1,397 overall deaths were reported from September to December in 2017, compared with the same period the previous year. However, officials did not provide causes of death for any of the 11,459 total people deceased during the period.
Many believe the official toll of 64 deaths is a severe undercount, and anger is building across the island as the families of victims seek answers.
“We demand that they tell us everything,” said Lucy Landro, who lives on the island of Vieques off Puerto Rico’s east coast and lost her elderly uncle after the hurricane hit. “People should know the reality that all towns are facing. We in Vieques aren’t the only ones who are suffering.”
The institute’s director, Mario Marazzi-Santiago, told the Associated Press that the information requested should be public and is urgently needed so Puerto Rico’s government can help prevent deaths in the event of another storm, noting that the Atlantic hurricane season began Friday.
“We want to make sure that when the next hurricane arrives, we don’t have a repeat of this situation,” he said.
Government officials have previously said they cannot release mortality data postMaria because it is under review as ordered by the governor. On Friday, Demographic Registry Director Wanda Llovet said in a statement that her office is being transparent and that not all information is public because they have to protect people’s privacy. Her office said there was a 24 percent increase in overall deaths in September 2017 compared with the same month the previous year, along with a 29 percent increase in October 2017 and an 8 percent increase in November 2017.
A Harvard study published earlier this week estimates that there were up to 4,600 more deaths than usual in the three months after Hurricane Maria, although some independent experts questioned the methods and the number in that study. Previous studies have found that the number of direct and indirect hurricanerelated deaths is higher than the official toll, including a 2017 report that said there were nearly 500 more deaths than usual on the island in September.