Puerto Rico residents began leaving pairs of shoes outside the island’s Capitol building in San Juan on Friday after learning this week that the death toll from last year’s Hurricane Maria might have been 70 times higher than the official government tally of 64. The shoes, arranged in neat rows, formed an impromptu memorial for the dead as people held protest signs nearby. The island’s government is facing criticism from residents angry at the lack of transparency surrounding the official death toll, which remains murky. Nearly six months after a New York Times report suggested 1,052 deaths may have been linked to the hurricane, a research team led by Harvard University put the figure even higher, at 4,645.

Source: Huffington Post June 02, 2018 23:26 UTC