Death toll disparity in Puerto Rico: why accurate numbers matter

Rebeka Rodríguez leans over the car console to help navigate her hand-drawn map of this small, hard-to-reach neighborhood in Adjuntas, a western mountain town. The curving pencil strokes demarcating homes and streets, and landmarks like chicken coops and bridges, don’t note the steep roads, or where they’re riddled with nearly impassable potholes. Even the paved parts were washed out during Maria.

But the color-coded key does show which households are inhabited by people reliant on medications that require refrigeration. A handful of homes are outlined in orange, meaning they’re “extremely urgent” cases – families left extra-vulnerable by hurricane Maria, whom Ms. Rodríguez’s organization worked to connect with solar power.

A new hurricane season kicks off today, but Puerto Rico is still reckoning with Maria’s