Trump's damning inaction on Puerto Rico, by the numbers

(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

published 27 March 2018

The Trump administration has been widely criticized for bungling the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, where tens of thousands are still without power six months after the storm. In order to fully understand President Trump's response, though, Politico compared the government's reaction to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico to Hurricane Harvey in Texas several weeks earlier. Here are some of the most damning statistics — and you can read even more in the full investigation at Politico here. Jeva Lange

Six days: How long it took for there to be 73 essential life-saving helicopters operating over Houston

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$141.8 million: FEMA assistance to Harvey victims just over a week after the storm

$6.2 million: FEMA assistance to Maria victims just over a week after the storm

30,000: Number of personnel responding in the Houston area within nine days

10,000: Number of personnel responding in Puerto Rico within nine days

103: Official death toll as a result of Hurricane Harvey

62: Official death toll as a result of Hurricane Maria

1,052: How high the real death toll in Puerto Rico might be

2: How many times President Trump visited Texas in the first eight days after the storm

1: How many times President Trump visited Puerto Rico 13 days after the storm

24: How many times Trump brought up Hurricane Harvey on Twitter in the first week after the storm

8: How many times Trump brought up Hurricane Maria on Twitter in the first week after the storm

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.