WASHINGTON — Few believed the initial official figures that said 64 people died in Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Maria in September 2017, a stunningly low statistic that officials released shortly after what is considered one of the island’s worst natural disasters on record. After many disputed the official number, Puerto Rican officials commissioned a study from George Washington University in Washington to get a more accurate number of deaths, and when its results were released on Aug. 28, it confirmed what many had suspected: An estimated 2,975 people lost their lives because of the natural disaster. As a result, Puerto Rico has now revised the official death toll. The study, carried out by the university’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, said death certificates may not have reflected conditions caused by the hurricane that lead to fatalities in the days and months following the disaster. Lack of electricity and water and a general pounding of the island-nation’s infrastructure by the storm made it difficult for hospitals and health care professionals to care for those who were struggling to recover in the aftermath of the disaster. Death certificates may not have taken into account all those factors and how the fatalities were a result of the conditions created by the hurricane. In a statement, those who conducted the study said that “lack of communication, well established guidelines and lack of training for physicians on how to certify deaths in disasters, resulted in a limited number of deaths being identified as hurricane related.” “Certain groups — those in lower income areas and the elderly — faced the highest risk,” said Dr. Carlos Santos-Burgoa, the principal investigator of the project and a professor at George Washington University, in a statement released by the university. The study looked at excess deaths from September 2017 to February 2018 and found “a number that is 22 percent higher than the number of deaths that would have been expected during that period in a year without the storm,” the statement said. People living in the poorest municipalities faced a 60 percent higher than expected risk of dying during that time period, the study said. After the hurricane, Catholics groups and organizations from the mainland U.S., including Catholic Extension, Catholic Relief Services and many parish groups, traveled to the U.S. territory with supplies and other forms of aid.
Pope expresses closeness to Mexican resort city devastated by hurricane After dozens of people were killed and billions of dollars in damages were suffered due to a hurricane that hit Mexico’s Pacific coast, Pope Francis expressed his condolences and prayed that Christians would contribute, in a spirit of charity, to the reconstruction of affected areas.
Hurricane Ian leaves catastrophe in Florida, Cuba, millions without power It's too early to tell the extent of Hurricane Ian's damage in the Catholic dioceses of Venice and St. Petersburg or the rest of the Sunshine State for that matter, but President Joe Biden in a Sept. 29 news conference said it is likely to rank as "one of the deadliest hurricanes in Florida history."
Dioceses emerge from Hurricane Ida's wrath as others prepare to help Catholic Charities in and around the areas of Louisiana and Mississippi affected by Hurricane Ida -- one of the most powerful storms to hit the continental U.S. since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 -- are collecting donations as they prepare to help with the yet-unknown damage caused by the late August storm.