The Real News’ Aaron Maté speaks with Omaya Sosa, co-founder of Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Journalism, about a recent Harvard study which calculates the deaths due to Hurricane Maria to be around 4,645, more than 70 times the figure officially announced by the Puerto Rican government. For comparison, the death toll for Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was 1,833.

AXIOS also reports that:

• The study found that the post-hurricane mortality rate was 14.3 deaths per 1,000 persons, which was a 62 percent increase from the pre-storm mortality rate during the same period in 2016.
• Researchers say their estimated death toll is “likely to be an underestimate.”
• The study, by a group of Harvard University researchers as well as experts in Puerto Rico and elsewhere, found that the death toll from the Category 4 storm was actually 70 times higher than the official estimate.
• The study’s findings are consistent with other recent investigations that have found that storm deaths were far higher than the official count.

Part Two of the Real News interview is here.

 

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