More than 4,600 people died in the three months after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico last year, according to a new Harvard study.
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, estimated that 4,645 people died between Sept. 20 and Dec. 31 either because of the storm or its after-effects. It estimated that number in part by determining that the mortality rate on the island was 62 percent higher than normal.
“The mortality rate remained high through the end of December 2017, and one third of the deaths were attributed to delayed or interrupted health care. Hurricane-related migration was substantial,” researchers stated.
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Puerto Rico government data states that 64 people lost their lives as an immediate result of the storm. However, Puerto Rico stopped tracking deaths in the days after the disaster because it commissioned George Washington University to track government and hospital data.
“We have always expected the number to be higher than what was previously reported. That is why we commissioned The George Washington University (GWU) to carry out a thorough study on the number of fatalities caused by Hurricane Maria which will be released soon. Both studies will help us better prepare for future natural disasters and prevent lives from being lost,” Carlos R. Mercader, executive director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, said in a statement issued Tuesday.
The storm caused $90 billion in damages to the Caribbean U.S. territory. Electricity in some areas took half a year to be reinstated.
