Call me Stick
God damn, it's been what, about two months?
Hopefully I'll feel confident to change my avatar off this scumbag soon. Apologies to any scumbags I insulted.
Official Toll in Puerto Rico: 62. Actual Deaths May Be 1,052.
It's a long article, worth reading in full. I've only quoted a bit of it.
A review by The New York Times of daily mortality data from Puerto Rico’s vital statistics bureau indicates a significantly higher death toll after the hurricane than the government there has acknowledged.
The Times’s analysis found that in the 42 days after Hurricane Maria made landfall on Sept. 20 as a Category 4 storm, 1,052 more people than usual died across the island. The analysis compared the number of deaths for each day in 2017 with the average of the number of deaths for the same days in 2015 and 2016.
Officially, just 62 people died as a result of the storm that ravaged the island with nearly 150-mile-an-hour winds, cutting off power to 3.4 million Puerto Ricans. The last four fatalities were added to the death toll on Dec. 2.
“Before the hurricane, I had an average of 82 deaths daily. That changes from Sept. 20 to 30th. Now I have an average of 118 deaths daily,” Wanda Llovet, the director of the Demographic Registry in Puerto Rico, said in a mid-November interview. Since then, she said on Thursday, both figures have increased by one.
Data for October are not yet complete, and the number of deaths recorded in that month is expected to rise. Record-keeping has been delayed because Puerto Rico’s power grid is operating at less than 70 percent of its capacity and swaths of the island still do not have power.
The deadliest day was Sept. 25, the day the governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo A. Rosselló, warned that a looming humanitarian crisis could prompt a mass exodus from the island.
President Trump responded that night by taking to Twitter to say the island had to deal with its massive debt: “Food, water and medical are top priorities - and doing well. #FEMA.”
It was over 90 degrees, and power was out on most of the island, even in most hospitals. Bedridden people were having trouble getting medical treatment, and dialysis clinics were operating with generators and limiting treatment hours. People on respirators lacked electricity to power the machines.
On that day, 135 people died in Puerto Rico. By comparison, 75 people died on that day in 2016 and 60 died in 2015.
One local mayor went to the Federal Emergency Management Agency command post that day and shouted for help. Statistics show his city, Manatí, had among the highest mortality rates in September.
Records from Puerto Rico’s government show that some of the leading causes of death in September were diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, although the causes of death are still pending for 313 of the September deaths. The number of diabetes deaths was 24 percent higher than it was last year — and 39 percent higher than it was in 2015.
But the highest surge was in deaths from sepsis — a complication of severe infection — which jumped 50 percent over last year. That change is notable and could be explained by delayed medical treatment or poor conditions in homes and hospitals.
Pneumonia and emphysema deaths also saw spikes.
edited 8th Dec '17 12:48:01 PM by Wyldchyld
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
For what it's worth, Wikipedia prefers 499 now, but we (being a Wikipedia editor, although not involved in that article) have decided as well that the official death toll can't be trusted.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Yeah, the article does attempt to summarise some of the problems with the methodology and the fact the number has problems. The take-home message of the article seems to be that the real count isn't going to be known without resources to actually find out, and that's before we get to the political will to acknowledge whatever that count might be.
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
And, even then, betcha suicide, murder and manslaughter figures will not be correctly mined for such things as "sudden withdrawal of antipsychotic medication and antidepressants due to shortages". :/
Or the direct mental health effects of a hurricane. While that's more for Irma, hiding in a cupboard as the storm tears your house apart is probably not good for your mental well being.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Yep, I think it's trying to point out that how you define what counts as being as a result (direct or indirect) of the hurricane is part of the problem.
Further on the „Maria‘s death toll is being prettied down“: 2 Democrats think Puerto Rico’s death toll is suspiciously low and want a GAO review
Three months after a hurricane devastated Barbuda and everybody left, little is back to normal. Only 1/5 of the population is back after the whole island was evacuated last September. Getting the impression that the government doesn‘t have the means to do anything.
The Hurricane Maria Horror History has another twist: Murders in Puerto Rico Surge as Hurricane Maria Recovery Continues. There has been a large spike in murders and crime in general, certainly an aftereffect of the storm. Let's also not forget that Maria is the largest power outage in US history and 1/5 of the island is still without electricity. Or that Maria is the 3th costliest Atlantic hurricane after Harvey and Katrina.
...and thus according to Wikipedia 2017 was the costliest hurricane season with Harvey 125 billion dollars of damage (Irma is the 5th costliest hurricane) and the season 300 billion dollars.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Closing this down as part of the new year; this year's hurricanes are dealt with here.
Just listened to a radio account of Puerto Rico post-Maria, specifically about a small town in the mountains. Apparently most of Puerto Rico still has no electricity or a water supply.
Regarding Irma, I take that things aren‘t much better?
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman