For many in Puerto Rico — and especially for families of hurricane victims — the fact that the government's official tally of the dead remains at 64 more than eight months after the hurricane feels like an insult. They say it's a testament to how dismissive the government has been of their need to have the deaths of their loved ones acknowledged.
Those feelings were thrust to the surface again this week after Harvard University researchers released a study that estimated upwards of 4,000 possible hurricane-related deaths in the three months after the storm. The study, based on household surveys and therefore prone to a wide margin of error, pre-empted what is expected to be a more precise study that Puerto Rico's government commissioned, but that has been delayed.
A key number in the Harvard study — 4,645 possible dead — has quickly become a symbol: of the local and federal governments' failure to save lives, of the suspicion many have that Gov. Ricardo Rosselló has tried to suppress the true tally, of the victims who survivors say must not be forgotten or overlooked.
Ani Sanchez brought a pair of her old sneakers for the display. She said like many people, she's not under any illusion that 4,645 is a true count.
Sanchez said: "I don't think that is an exact number," she said, "but at least the conversation started that the number is a lot greater than what the authorities reported. It's not 64."
