The death toll from the Haiti earthquake may have been greatly exaggerated, according to a new report. Early estimates placed the number of dead at above 200,000, and the official Haitian government's toll is 316,000. But the report by a Washington consulting firm and commissioned by the U.S. government states the dead may in fact number between 46,000 and 85,000. The report was prepared for the U.S. Agency for International Development but has not yet been publicly released. Haiti's government said it stood by its numbers and the U.S. State Department said it needed to resolve the report's "inconsistencies" with its own findings. The huge death toll helped justify an international outpouring of aid for the impoverished Caribbean country, including $5.5 billion pledged by the UN.
