Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló announced on Thursday the formation of a task force to examine the number of deaths related to Hurricane María. The group is expected to report its findings, including any revised numbers, in 90 days.
Saying it was important to “guarantee transparency” as part of the island’s recovery process, the executive order tasks Public Safety Secretary Héctor Pesquera with creating and coordinating a process, in conjunction with health, forensic, and demographic registries, to review deaths following Hurricane María and whether they are related to the effects of the devastating storm.
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Pesquera, who will coordinate the task force, had been highly critical in the past of claims that the death toll was in the hundreds. He called San Mayor Carmen Yulín “irresponsible” back in November when she said that the number could be closer to 500.
However, in early December, when he announced the official death count was over 60, Pesquera said that the process of evaluating hurricane-related deaths is ongoing.
The issue of the death count has been a topic of concern; though the official number of deaths related to Hurricane Maria is 64, recent estimates by Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Journalism and The New York Times suggest the real number may be more than 1,000.
The creation of the group follows statements made by Gov. Rosselló on Dec. 18, ordering a review of deaths following the storm.
“We always expected that the number of hurricane-related deaths would increase as we received more factual information — not hearsay — and this review will ensure we are correctly counting everybody,” he said.
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