Puerto Rico "could have been better prepared" for hurricane

The report was conducted in collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico Graduate School of Public Health and commissioned by Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello. Puerto Rican residents have protested the government's previous refusal to raise the death toll, the Post said, sometimes setting thousands of pairs of shoes in front of the Puerto Rican Capitol building in San Juan with names of the dead.

The report is based on an analysis of death certificates and other mortality data for six months from September 2017 through February 2018.

He echoed one finding in the report - that doctors "lacked awareness" on how to appropriately certify deaths attributed to natural disasters.

They say the elderly and impoverished were most at risk.

Trump's comments on Wednesday were not the first time he has praised the federal response in Puerto Rico. "Stay here and be homeless, or move to Puerto Rico and be unemployed or have no home and struggle there". He added that he could only apply the law and not require FEMA "to do that which in a humanitarian and caring world should be done".

"I think the government was negligent", Christian told us. On Aug. 28, he raised the official death toll to 2,975 from 64. Overall, the study found that 22% more deaths than normally would have occurred during that period in Puerto Rico occurred following the hurricane.

The White House is responding to a new estimate that dramatically increases the Hurricane Maria death toll in Puerto Rico.

FILE PHOTO: Ysamar Figueroa carrying her son Saniel, looks at the damage in the neighbourhood after the area was hit by Hurricane Maria, in Canovanas, Puerto Rico September 26, 2017.

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Additional research must be done to understand how the hurricane was involved in the excess deaths identified in this study.

A judge says the federal government can end a temporary housing vouching program for hundreds of Puerto Rican hurricane evacuees.

The same thing happened with the death count and other relief efforts, said Blondet.

"We did not cherry-pick, I can promise you", Goldman said. "Everybody around this table and everybody watching can really be very proud of what's taken place in Puerto Rico". They also said the public health system needs to be strengthened, though Goldman said they don't know yet whether those weaknesses contributed to storm-related deaths.

For months, there's been speculation the death toll was much higher than what the government was reporting.

Rescue workers come to the rescue after Hurricane Maria.

Rossello pledged to carry out the recommendations, though there are questions about Puerto Rico's ability to do so.