The Latest: Governor hikes Puerto Rico storm toll to 2,975

I'm putting this in Political Madness as that is exactly what it is. Puerto Rico is a US territory and Puerto Ricans are American citizens, afforded the same rights as the rest of us, apart from the right to electoral vote.

Gov. Ricardo Rossello is raising Puerto Rico’s official toll from Hurricane Maria from 64 to 2,975 in response to a new, government-commissioned study finding deaths from the storm were severely undercounted.

He’s also creating a commission to implement recommendations in the new report, and creating a registry of the people expected to be most vulnerable in a future storm, such as the elderly, bedridden or kidney-dialysis patients.

The new estimate of 2,975 dead in the six months after Maria devastated the island in September 2017 was made by researchers with the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. It was released Tuesday.

The story is just breaking so this quote is the extent of the article so far.

Associated Press

For comparison, 2,996 people died during the attacks on 9/11. 2,606 out of that in the Twin Towers.

The death toll in Puerto Rico is now on par with that number. We started a war, or rather wars, over that death toll.

Why do we not care when those same Americans die due to our Government's negligence?

$870 million were given as assistance to Puerto Rico, where people were dying. $4.7 billion was just given as direct payments to soybean and other farmers whose profits were impacted by Trump's trade war?

Profit > Lives?


Edit to add: New link available, will not add new quotes from the new article. APNews

a reply to: Kharron

I can believe it, given how badly the island was hit. But who deserves the blame? It's not Trump's fault that the island neglected its infrastructure to the point that it was only one or two steps above Haiti.

a reply to: Kharron

They are also Puerto Rican citizens and Spanish citizens.

Didn't they receive $16 billion in relief aid earlier this year or late last year?

a reply to: Kharron

was this the place where the administration was holding back the aid for political gain? If so, wow, I wonder how many of those deaths could be attributed to that act alone?

eta: sure looks that way:
www.foxnews.com...

originally posted by: AndyFromMichigan
a reply to: Kharron

I can believe it, given how badly the island was hit. But who deserves the blame? It's not Trump's fault that the island neglected its infrastructure to the point that it was only one or two steps above Haiti.

When you drive by a person in need of assistance, say they are injured or dying, and you don't stop -- you can be charged and most probably would be. It is our duty as humans to help other humans. That applies to any person, that person on the side of the road does not even have to be American.

These people are all American and the government decided to just drive by.

Who do you think is responsible for the well being of a US territory and its people?

a reply to: Kharron

That number is very sad as a country to look at. I don't want to sit here and put it all on the government though, whether that be federal or Puerto Rico.

One thing to remember is it's an island, so getting people off and resources on the island proved to be difficult. The other part that made it tricky was the fact that their power grid is independent from the mainland, so here if a natural disaster happens, we can redirect power to affected areas, and people can just relocate to somewhere with power.

From your article

Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans in 2005, was directly responsible for about 1,200 deaths, according to the National Hurricane Center. That does not include indirect deaths of the sort the George Washington researchers counted in Puerto Rico.

So it seems that the two very large natural disasters we've had were somewhat comparable in devastation.

I'm not sitting here trying to make excuses by any means, America should react swiftly to any kind of natural disaster, and this one in particular could have been handled better, especially by citizens. I feel like we as a nation let this story get swept under the rug, and the media could have done a better job at keeping it in the forefront to help the relief effort.

I think we all had a part to play in this.

originally posted by: Kharron

originally posted by: AndyFromMichigan
a reply to: Kharron

I can believe it, given how badly the island was hit. But who deserves the blame? It's not Trump's fault that the island neglected its infrastructure to the point that it was only one or two steps above Haiti.

When you drive by a person in need of assistance, say they are injured or dying, and you don't stop -- you can be charged and most probably would be. It is our duty as humans to help other humans. That applies to any person, that person on the side of the road does not even have to be American.

These people are all American and the government decided to just drive by.

Who do you think is responsible for the well being of a US territory and its people?

could you quantify how the government just drove by? I heard it differently.

originally posted by: network dude
a reply to: Kharron

was this the place where the administration was holding back the aid for political gain? If so, wow, I wonder how many of those deaths could be attributed to that act alone?

eta: sure looks that way:
www.foxnews.com...

Yes, the mayor of San Juan was hoarding federal aid, and then blaming Trump for not sending enough.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: Kharron

They are also Puerto Rican citizens and Spanish citizens.

Didn't they receive $16 billion in relief aid earlier this year or late last year?

FEMA says they dispensed $870m through the end of last year.

The hurricane was in September. The number of deaths counted all happened in the first few months, multiplied due to lack of food and medical care.

The Government dispensed another $16 billion in February this year. Do you think it helped save those 3,000 lives? I am sure the aid is welcome, but let's go back to my analogy above:

If you drove back a week later at the place of the accident you did not stop for and say you helped clean it up, do you think the charges would be dropped that you did not help save a life?

originally posted by: network dude

originally posted by: Kharron

originally posted by: AndyFromMichigan
a reply to: Kharron

I can believe it, given how badly the island was hit. But who deserves the blame? It's not Trump's fault that the island neglected its infrastructure to the point that it was only one or two steps above Haiti.

When you drive by a person in need of assistance, say they are injured or dying, and you don't stop -- you can be charged and most probably would be. It is our duty as humans to help other humans. That applies to any person, that person on the side of the road does not even have to be American.

These people are all American and the government decided to just drive by.

Who do you think is responsible for the well being of a US territory and its people?

could you quantify how the government just drove by? I heard it differently.

3,000 lives were lost. Had we helped in time, they would not have been.

How have you heard it differently and where have you heard it?

a reply to: Kharron

Maybe look into the San Juan mayor intentionally withholding critical aide to her OWN people just to make Trump look bad.

Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz and her administration are under fire for allegedly obstructing critical supplies from reaching victims of the category-4 hurricane that leveled much of the tiny U.S. territory nearly nine months ago.

Source

Concerns about Cruz are not new. There has been a growing backlash from frustrated residents who say they feel forgotten and say the mayor’s personal political ambitions are coming at the expense of the very people she’s supposed to be representing.

Yeah, pretty pathetic.

originally posted by: AndyFromMichigan

originally posted by: network dude
a reply to: Kharron

was this the place where the administration was holding back the aid for political gain? If so, wow, I wonder how many of those deaths could be attributed to that act alone?

eta: sure looks that way:
www.foxnews.com...

Yes, the mayor of San Juan was hoarding federal aid, and then blaming Trump for not sending enough.

You know this to be true and can prove it here, right?

I remember that phone call from a man claiming to be a Police Officer from San Juan saying the mayor was withholding money. He did not give his name and it was an anonymous phone call to a radio talk show, if I remember correctly. Following that phone call, certain Trump supporters in the House started re-tweetng that news. No one has proven this or substantiated the claims in any way.

So, I'll ask again: you have proof the mayor was withholding money or are you just repeating unsubstantiated news, most likely propaganda with a personal agenda.

I'll keep an eye on this thread when I come back home. I'll be looking forward to a legit link proving what you said. Thank you for providing it to support your claim.

originally posted by: Kharron

originally posted by: network dude

originally posted by: Kharron

originally posted by: AndyFromMichigan
a reply to: Kharron

I can believe it, given how badly the island was hit. But who deserves the blame? It's not Trump's fault that the island neglected its infrastructure to the point that it was only one or two steps above Haiti.

When you drive by a person in need of assistance, say they are injured or dying, and you don't stop -- you can be charged and most probably would be. It is our duty as humans to help other humans. That applies to any person, that person on the side of the road does not even have to be American.

These people are all American and the government decided to just drive by.

Who do you think is responsible for the well being of a US territory and its people?

could you quantify how the government just drove by? I heard it differently.

3,000 lives were lost. Had we helped in time, they would not have been.

How have you heard it differently and where have you heard it?

www.nytimes.com...

Two weeks after Hurricane Maria split apart Puerto Rico, basic aid is arriving in San Juan and reaching more remote towns and barrios aching for assistance. But some families say that they are still receiving only meager portions, and ill-equipped and overburdened local mayors have been left to figure out how to haul supplies from regional drop-off points to their storm-ravaged towns. The death toll from the hurricane rose to 34, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said on Tuesday.

I suppose if all you have is a hammer, you are going to see a lot of nails.

Welcome to the reality of corrupt-failed local government.

Who's fault is it that the PR gov failed from top to bottom?

They've had a hundred years to fix it.

I think the timing of this "report" is politically motivated because of the Autumn Witch of November elections.


"another smoke and choke deal"

a reply to: Kharron

SNIPPED

The military has been there providing aid to the people of Puerto Rico since day one.

But when mayors and council members are obstructing that aid and denying people relief to score leftist brownie points. We can easily see who's hands are bloody.

Dp

Last i heard fema only recognizes somewhere less than 100 deaths related to the hurricane.

The reason is how they define the term related.

a reply to: Kharron

This was a disaster, and it sucked/sucks, and if we didn’t do what we could/should have, that sucks, too, and I hope we do better...

Now, while I agree with you on this, in general, I think, why would anybody, with less, prepare for the foreseeable, if they could (theoretically) just rely on others, when the need arises? ref: grasshopper and ant