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<div class="header reader-header" style="display: block;"> <font
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href="https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Hurricane-Marias-Death-Toll-in-Puerto-Rico-Almost-5000-Not-Official-64-Study-20180529-0017.html">https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Hurricane-Marias-Death-Toll-in-Puerto-Rico-Almost-5000-Not-Official-64-Study-20180529-0017.html</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Hurricane Maria's Death Toll in Puerto
Rico Almost 5,000, Not Official 64<br>
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<div class="reader-estimated-time">Published 29 May 2018 </div>
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<p>According to a research team led by scientists at the <strong>Harvard</strong>
T.H. Chan School of Public Health almost 5,000 people
died in <strong>Puerto Rico</strong> due to reasons
related to September's category 4 <strong>Hurricane
Maria</strong>. The new estimate stands in stark
contrast to the official<strong> death toll</strong> of
64.</p>
<p>The study published Tuesday in the New England Journal
of Medicine surveyed 3,299 randomly chosen households in
the island and asked the occupants about their
experiences, who reported a total of 38 deaths.</p>
<p>The scientists then extrapolated that finding to Puerto
Rico’s total population of 3.4 million and subtracted
deaths recorded during that same period in 2016.</p>
<p>Using that methodology, researchers found that between
Sept. 20 and Dec. 31 there were 4,648 “excess deaths”
that would not have occurred if Puerto Rico hadn’t been
plunged into a prolonged disaster after the hurricane. </p>
<p>The official death toll only includes deaths directly
related to the storm. However, several studies report
higher numbers.</p>
<p>The federal response to the environmental disaster has
been criticized by many within and outside of the island
for being unable to secure basic services, such as
electricity.</p>
<p>The study notes that for more than 100 days 83 percent
of Puerto Rican households remained without <a
href="https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Post-Hurricane-Puerto-Rico-Blackout-Second-Largest-in-the-World-Report-20180416-0007.html">electricity</a>.</p>
<p>"In our survey, interruption of medical care was the
primary cause of sustained high mortality rates in the
months following the hurricane," the study states.
Infrastructural damage made it difficult for hospitals
and doctors to provide care, and for people to get to
the doctor or the hospital to seek medical care.</p>
<p>According to the survey one-third of the total deaths
in the months following the storm were caused by
interruption in health care provision.</p>
<p>The study allowed researchers to conclude that the
mortality rate in the island jumped by 62 percent in the
three months immediately after the storm.</p>
<p>The United States' National Public Radio reported that
the Puerto Rico Department of Health didn't respond to
requests for comment about the study.</p>
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