Tsunami Death toll rises to a quarter million

[kallistii]

Well, as I predicted, the death toll is at the quarter million mark, and may rise further. You can read about it at the CBC, among other places.

Many people just don't get it. This is *the* greatest tragedy of our lifetimes. The previous worse tragedy was World War II. It doesn't take a great Seer to predict that the death toll was going to reach this level...only a bit of knowledge about Earthquakes, Tsunamis, the population density of the region, and how much of the population makes its living from the sea. Why didn't the media pick up on this? A few minutes on the Internet would have done it.

Of course, the worse part of this tragedy is that it is not over...not by a long shot. This event will be the most important to happen there for the next 50 years, barring another major Quake/Tsunami. And the death toll from this event, directly and indirectly, is going to top out at anywhere between One Million and Six Million people dead. Why? Disease, the stress of having gone through an event like this (Post-Traumatic Stress psychological problems for example), and lack of resources destroyed by the event. And the wars that will be sparked because of these problems.

It will all depend on how well the international community *continues* to respond over the next decade...for relief is not a fire-and-forget type proposition, especially for an event of this magnitude. Think about what would happen if the US/Canada was hit by a similar tsunami...well, for that region, it is the same level of disaster!!! Think about that!

ttyl

Comments

Not suprised either

[rachaelll.livejournal.com]

The death toll will keep rising when the media begins to aknowledge that entire islands of population simply don't exist any longer. A quarter million sounds like a realistic start.

[electricvelvet.livejournal.com]

I wasn't surprised either - gota flash as soon as I heard whjat and where...
very very populous region with a heck of a high population at the coastal regions almost all are very low-lying...

badbadbadbadbad never mind the cholera and etc. :-(

But I wonder, too, how many dead in Iraq and elsewhere when added together, as the US overexerts its military might in wars of aggression. Afghanistan... I can almost understand that one - but they didn't need to go in to Iraq and really had no real justification. Yeah - I know : oil - well guess who else has oil? Iran...

oh what a mess

OK so there are 100,000 dead in Iraq alone now. Not sure if that includes US soldiers or not - Now if US invades Iran as many have suggested and as the inaugural speech suggested... :-/

ugly...

tsunami aid

[evilselkie.livejournal.com]

One of my friends here is from India, an affected area, and he had a number of points about the nature of international aid that should probably be aired as widely as possible. He's hoping that the aftermath of a tragedy like this might lead more people to take a closer look at the way international aid actually *works*.
The first point: don't send blankets to India. They are not grubbing in the dirt with sticks: they have an organized government and infrastructure, and can feed and clothe the survivors themselves. There's too much wastage in the process of converting a blanket to something usable.
The second point: do send engineers. The buildings and infrastructure were absolutely devastated, and a lot of the long-term effect will be in the cost of rebuilding roads, in no longer having a school or hospital building, etc. THAT is what India, at least, really does need help with. If they get some help putting the road back together, they can truck fresh water down it all by themselves.
I should mention that said friend is working on his Master's project now, putting in grant applications: he wants to study the effects of institutionalization of kids in India following the tragedy, arguing that orphans are being taken away from extended family and thrown into sub-standard orphanages as a kneejerk solution and that this entire system needs to be overhauled.