Deaths labeled 'victim of cataclysmic storm' aren't on list
... “How could it be possible that (documents say) it was related to the hurricane and still the government did not count him in the 64?” said Lisa De Jesús, a friend of Ruiz who said she took him into her home because his house was so damaged in the storm. “It’s obvious there were more than 64 deaths. If he was not counted, how many more were not counted?” ...
Most of the victims whose deaths are labeled that way appear on Puerto Rico’s list of 64 hurricane victims. At least six of the names, however, do not appear on the government’s tally of storm deaths ...
Lisa De Jesús and Luis M. Cruz, Ramon Cruz’s brother, told CNN they went to that forensics office to identify the bodies. Interviewers there asked them about the circumstances of the deaths, they said. Those circumstances appear to meet criteria established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for disaster-related deaths. Guidelines published by the CDC in October 2017 say injuries suffered during cleanup after a disaster, “blunt-force trauma” related to a disaster and “acute exacerbation of chronic condition(s)” following a disaster, among other direct and indirect causes of death, should be classified as disaster-related ...
In May, researchers from Harvard University and elsewhere published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine estimating between 793 and 8,498 people died in the storm and its chaotic aftermath, which included months without power and basic services for many. That analysis was based on interviews with more than 3,000 households in Puerto Rico.
In November, CNN surveyed 112 funeral homes across the island — about half the total — and found that funeral home staff believed at least 499 hurricane-related deaths had occurred ...
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