second try...
is it still 18?
frankj1 wrote:
From CNN: Families of the 247 people whose deaths FEMA confirmed to be storm-related as of September 5 received a total of $565,882 in assistance from FEMA to cover some funeral and burial expenses, according to Dasha Castillo, a FEMA spokeswoman. As of that date, 3,005 people had applied for that assistance in relation to deaths that happened after Maria or Hurricane Irma, Castillo said.
Of those, more than 2,350 cases are "currently in various phases of review and processing," she said. And 420 applications have been rejected, she said. Most of those -- 369 -- were dismissed because the agency was unable to contact the person who filed the application despite multiple attempts, according to FEMA. Only 11 of those rejected claims were found to be unrelated to Hurricane Maria, Castillo said.
The figures, which were previously unreleased, raise new questions about the speed at which federal and territorial government officials are investigating and paying claims related to people who died in Hurricanes Maria and Irma; they also highlight an apparent disconnect between what Puerto Rico officials have been saying publicly about the storm deaths and what they may have known in private.
Pedro Cerame, spokesman for Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossell贸's administration in Washington, told CNN that FEMA uses somewhat different criteria to classify storm-related deaths.
"FEMA has its own guidelines and protocols for this," he said.
Their process is not linked to the government of Puerto Rico, he said.
