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They told us 64 people died in the hurricane last year and the actual figure is closer to 5,000.

Where is the outrage on the Right?

Hawkeye wrote:They told us 64 people died in the hurricane last year and the actual figure is closer to 5,000.

Where is the outrage on the Right?

Was in San Juan on May 3 - 4. Rented a car and local driver to have a look at the damage for my company.

San Juan proper is in relatively good shape. The main downtown, port, forts and other tourist areas are open and functioning with little or no outward signs of water or wind damage.

Out in the countryside, it's a different story. From a fly over, 'blue roof' percentage is probably 30% in the more contemporary communities, well above 50% in most others, and I would say 70% in some (and I was told that many were unable to get FEMA tarps at all). The countryside is a mess, especially in the mountains, where some roads are still impassable or nearly so, especially when it rains.

PR had a complete power system system failure a few months ago that really freaked people out. While mainland Americans in general are still well respected and welcome, Trump and his administration are extremely unpopular there - and for good reason.

Estimates are that over 10% of the population has left the cities in PR and may never return. (On Dutch St. Maarten, the estimate is that more than 20% of the population left after the hurricanes.)

Everything has gotten more expensive since the hurricanes and most folks are having an even harder time making ends meet. Many of those with real money are making money off the disaster. Those without - not so much.

Hawkeye wrote:They told us 64 people died in the hurricane last year and the actual figure is closer to 5,000.

Where is the outrage on the Right?

If you read through the article that you linked to, the Puerto Rican gov't itself came up with the 64 death toll.

It is part of the US, basically another state. I'm just trolling the Right because we all know if the tables were turned they'd be blaming Obama and calling it a huge conspiracy by Liberals in government somehow. The real difference is that Obama didn't downplay the damage of natural disasters for political reasons and as an excuse not to exhaust our budgetary means to save lives.

Trump repeatedly downplayed the significance of the damage in Puerto Rico saying it wasn't a real catastrophe because fewer than 100 people died. He said a real catastrophe would be like Katrina, and now it turns out the damage is Katrina x 3 in terms of deaths.

The method for determining 64 deaths was idiotic to anyone who actually cared. They didn't consider the thousands of missing people dead unless they had a body that was identified, so Trump admin kept going with the low "verified' figure and pushed it for political reasons.

The data showed a 62 percent increase in the mortality rate in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, compared to the same period a year earlier, corresponding to a total of 4,645 deaths.

Even this is believed to be a "substantial underestimate" of the actual death count, said the report, noting it could be above 5,700.

"Our estimates are roughly consistent with press reports that evaluated deaths in the first month after the hurricane," it added.

"On average, households went 84 days without electricity, 64 days without water, and 41 days without cellular telephone coverage."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane- ... searchers/

Hawkeye wrote:It is part of the US, basically another state. I'm just trolling the Right because we all know if the tables were turned they'd be blaming Obama and calling it a huge conspiracy by Liberals in government somehow. The real difference is that Obama didn't downplay the damage of natural disasters for political reasons and as an excuse not to exhaust our budgetary means to save lives.

Trump repeatedly downplayed the significance of the damage in Puerto Rico saying it wasn't a real catastrophe because fewer than 100 people died. He said a real catastrophe would be like Katrina, and now it turns out the damage is Katrina x 3 in terms of deaths.

The method for determining 64 deaths was idiotic to anyone who actually cared. They didn't consider the thousands of missing people dead unless they had a body that was identified, so Trump admin kept going with the low "verified' figure and pushed it for political reasons.

The data showed a 62 percent increase in the mortality rate in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, compared to the same period a year earlier, corresponding to a total of 4,645 deaths.

Even this is believed to be a "substantial underestimate" of the actual death count, said the report, noting it could be above 5,700.

"Our estimates are roughly consistent with press reports that evaluated deaths in the first month after the hurricane," it added.

"On average, households went 84 days without electricity, 64 days without water, and 41 days without cellular telephone coverage."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane- ... searchers/

It doesn't matter if it's "basically a state" or that you're trolling the Right. That's a misrepresentation of fact. The 64 death toll was the number supplied by the Puerto Rican government's report. Not the Trump admin.

You're basically Trump with MDB membership instead of a Twitter account. ;-)

It was supplied by the government under US jurisdiction which relies heavily on US governmental resources and that false information was uncritically and gleefully relayed by Trump himself for political purposes. He said it wasn't a real catastrophe even though he visited the island. He said this because there were only 16 confirmed deaths at the time he was comparing it to Katrina. It was weeks before we knew the full body count from Katrina, yet he's in PR just a couple days after it blew over to declare all is not that bad because so few deaths and the real burden is on the American taxpayer for having to help them with aid.

Jersey Girl wrote:
It doesn't matter if it's "basically a state" or that you're trolling the Right. That's a misrepresentation of fact. The 64 death toll was the number supplied by the Puerto Rican government's report. Not the Trump admin.

You're basically Trump with MormonDiscussions.com membership instead of a Twitter account. ;-)

Donald Trump reported a low death total in a boastful attempt to credit himself for a spectacular response to the diaster. He did this while there was ample reason to believe that the actual deaths would be much higher, that the damage was devastating, and also while leading the way in under responding to the disaster. He deserves criticism here and this report is a good time to provide it. The Trump admin has been appalling on this issue.

Jersey Girl wrote:If you read through the article that you linked to, the Puerto Rican gov't itself came up with the 64 death toll.

Since reading through the article is obviously too much, here's a little more help:

This figure stands in stark contrast with the Puerto Rican government’s official tally of 64.

I suspect the disaster in Puerto Rico will stand as one of the most awful things Trump is remembered for (once people start to realize just how bad things were). I'm always hesitant to Monday-Morning-QB, but this is an example where basic leadership skills were called for, and Trump's total failure in that regard is inexcusable.

Even as a conservative, I suspect the private sector could have easily facilitated a massive relief effort (on par with the Berlin Airlift or something along those lines) with some government leadership. Time and time again, Americans and the world have shown a willingness to sacrifice and donate to help those who get hurt by disasters, but encouragement and leadership and help with facilitation is usually needed.

That being said, I have seen some underestimations of the FEMA response, with accusations of the government doing "nothing" in the aftermath. Over $2 billion has been allocated, with countless people and volunteers going to help. But the logistics of the island and infrastructure make it a little more difficult than loading up bottled water on a semi and driving it down, or volunteers driving into the area for a weekend to help clean up. The necessary fixes involve massive engineering projects with huge costs and expertise needed for a long period of time. But even in light of those difficulties, much more should be done.

Jersey Girl wrote:If you read through the article that you linked to, the Puerto Rican gov't itself came up with the 64 death toll.

Excellent point. Not only that but those so-called "Puerto Ricans" or Porter Reekuns as we real Americans say, also hired a tiny electrical contractor from Montana to fix their inundated power system. Talk about miscalculations. Seems like they were trying to curry favor with some goofball from the Department of the Land Giveaways named Zinke.

At least President Trump threw them paper towels in person!

Outside of the lack of Congressional or Presidential leadership, the tepid media coverage of PR is also really a travesty. CNN spent way more focus on a missing plane seemingly forever than the worst natural disaster on US soil - one that claimed more lives than 9/11 - in over a century.