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Death, statistics and a disaster zone: the struggle to count the dead after Hurricane Maria

Intense controversies surround studies of how many people perish in conflicts and disasters, but researchers are developing new ways to measure mortality rates.
  1. Carrie Arnold

    1. Carrie Arnold is a science journalist in Richmond, Virginia.

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A demonstrator holds a Puerto Rican flag

A protest in Puerto Rico in June 2018 highlights one estimated death toll for Hurricane Maria. Credit: Xavier Garcia/Bloomberg/Getty

In the pale predawn hours of Old San Juan last February, Neysha Burgos-Nieves and Hector Rosado loaded a battered black car with everything they might need for a few days — from bottled water and protein bars to flashlights and a change of clothes. Their first stop was more than two hours away, high in Puerto Rico’s isolated central mountains. Although it had been more than four months since Hurricane Maria had slammed into the island in September 2017, much of the US territory remained without electricity, water or mobile-phone service. If Burgos-Nieves and Rosado ran into trouble once they left the relative safety of San Juan, the two research assistants would be on their own.

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Nature 566, 22-25 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-00442-0

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