The Washington Post blasted President Donald Trump's response to storm-ravaged Puerto Rico after a new report estimated that at least 4,645 people died as a result of Hurricane Maria's impact on the island.
"Remember President Trump's visit to the stricken island in the storm's aftermath, tossing out paper towels and telling Puerto Rican officials they should be 'very proud' that hundreds didn't die from Maria as in a 'real catastrophe like Katrina?'" the newspaper said in an editorial.
"Think how many lives might have been saved if Puerto Rico's devastation had been handled with the seriousness and urgency it deserved.
"Ask yourself whether Mr. Trump would have thought — or acted — differently if the American citizens who were affected had lived not in Puerto Rico but in Texas or Tennessee."
The new report published in the New England Journal of Medicine by scientists from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and other institutions takes issue with the government's count of 64 dead, the newspaper noted.
The researchers concede their estimates are imprecise and further study is necessary.
"But the report, along with earlier reporting and analysis by The New York Times, paints a devastating picture of how people, particularly the elderly and infirm, were imperiled by long-standing losses of electricity, water and communications," the Post said.
The newspaper maintained local government and federal officials did not rise to the challenge.
The Post pointed out hurricane season is about to start and there are concerns Puerto Rico is still not prepared to deal with new emergencies.
And it asked: "Will more Americans have to die before their government wakes up to their needs?"
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