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Asia quake death toll over 11,000

jsw

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
44
Andover, MA
I couldn't see where this had been posted.

From CNN:

Massive tsunamis triggered by the largest earthquake to shake the planet in more than 40 years wiped out coastal areas across Asia as far as 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) away, killing more than 11,000 people.

More than 4,500 people are reported dead in Sri Lanka, along with thousands more fatalities in Indonesia and India and hundreds dead in Thailand.

The initial quake, measuring 9 in magnitude, struck about 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island around 7 a.m. Sunday (0000 GMT), according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center.

It is the fourth largest earthquake in recorded history, according to the NEIC. The measurements have been taken since 1899.

....
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Terrible.

Edit: Count is now over 135,000.
 
wow... when i looked this morning the ranges were between 3,500 and 5,000... this is terrible. i hope that other countries are willing to extend a helping hand...
 
Very sad news. I pray for the victims of this Earth Quake and the resultant tsunami. Hopefully reliefs efforts will be able to be mounted soon. It seems that usually the United States is among the first. :(
 
it's just unreal. my fiancee was orginally born in thailand and we have a friend who lives in southern thailand. calls to her cell phone won't go through. she's not a close friend or anything, we swamp e-mails every month or so. but i'm still very concerned for her.

strange, this reminds me of a frantic call i got from her on Sept. 11 making sure i wasn't either on one of those planes or anywhere near those tragides.

here's to hoping those esitmates are too high.
 
jsw said:
I couldn't see where this had been posted.

From CNN: Terrible.
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A really disasterous tragedy. Really sad that the poorest people of those countries were hit the hardest. It will still take a while to track down how many tourists died, and those that are hurt and missing.

We should all pray for them and help them out where possible.
 
wow, I can't believe the massive damages, I heard that the numbers are up to 25K. I really hope that's an overestimate. It's too bad to hear that there wasn't much if any warning for the tsunamis, I imagine that lots of lives would have been saved if India and Sri Lanka were part of the international warning system.
 
With everything that's been going on here with the holidays, I didn't realize something had happened until I read the paper this morning. Shocking - especially with the extent of the damage and the speed with which it appears to have happened. No warnings or anything.
 
Well as an update from my earlier post, my friend e-mailed me. She is OK and so is her farm. But she said they are worried about disease, which I read on BBC as well. Estimates are over 20,000 dead now. God, I hope that’s wrong.
 
a lot of the governments are admiting to failing to warn residents properly. the reality is that in many of the countries affected, no decent warning system exists in the first place. some of the eyewitness and survivor accounts are simply horrifying.
 
gwuMACaddict said:
a lot of the governments are admiting to failing to warn residents properly. the reality is that in many of the countries affected, no decent warning system exists in the first place. some of the eyewitness and survivor accounts are simply horrifying.
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It's amazing, really. I would think that "early warning" systems would be available, given that they know when the earthquake happened and where. They knew there would be a tsunami generated as a result.

Part of it may be that apparently this was the first tsunami recorded in that area for well over a hundred years. Perhaps they've grown complacent.

Add that to the fact that the destruction happens hundreds, thousands even, of miles away on seemingly calm, beautiful days, and you've got a recipe for disaster. With hurricanes you've got significant warning, and at least with Tornados you've got an indication that something may happen simply because the weather is generally so bad.
 
emw said:
It's amazing, really. I would think that "early warning" systems would be available, given that they know when the earthquake happened and where. They knew there would be a tsunami generated as a result.
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Indonesian officials said they had no way to know that the earthquake had caused the earthquake-driven waves, or tsunamis, or how dangerous they might have been.

"Unfortunately, we have no equipment here that can warn about tsunamis," said Budi Waluyo, an official with Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency. "The instruments are very expensive and we don't have money to buy them."
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more here
 
This devastation is just so tragic, the worst in 40 years. This disaster also ties for the 4th worst earthquake in recent history.

1. Chile May 22, 1960 Magnitude 9.5

2. Prince William Sound, Alaska March 28,1964 Magnitude 9.2

3. Andreanof Islands, Alaska March 9, 1957 Magnitude 9.1

4. Kamchatka, Russia Nov. 4, 1952 Magnitude 9

My prayers go out to all the victims. :(
 
Anyone know how Singapore faired? I have some friends there visiting and I do not know how concerned I should be for them.

Geographically, it seems that Singapore should've been affected, yet I see no mention of it in the Newspapers.

Thanks for any assistance...I just want to know how much I should worry.
 
blackfox said:
Anyone know how Singapore faired? I have some friends there visiting and I do not know how concerned I should be for them.

Geographically, it seems that Singapore should've been affected, yet I see no mention of it in the Newspapers.

Thanks for any assistance...I just want to know how much I should worry.
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Doesn't seem to have been - see here: http://newsradio.mediacorpradio.com/headlines001.htm:

The Building and Construction Authority says buildings here are not likely to be affected by the seismic waves generated by large earthquakes in Indonesia.

Singapore, BCA explains, is located on a stable geological formation more than 400 kilometres away from the nearest Indonesian earthquake belt.

It says by the time the waves reach Singapore, the force of the waves will be reduced to an insignificant level.

Moreover, buildings here are designed to withstand minor vibrations and tremors.
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This is really a terrible disaster. It's even the worst catastrophe that has ever happened to Norwegians internationally as well. Over 500 are missing and 13 are officially dead. But it's nothing compared to the overall number of casualties, which I think will continue to rise for a long time.
 
Zenith said:
This is really a terrible disaster. It's even the worst catastrophe that has ever happened to Norwegians internationally as well. Over 500 are missing and 13 are officially dead. But it's nothing compared to the overall number of casualties, which I think will continue to rise for a long time.
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Yep, disasters, whether naturally occurring or man-made, are international in scope even if they are only local in scale. The BBC reported that over 10.000 Britons were vacationing in the area at the time.
 
Heard of this tragic event on CBC radio saturday evening (Washington State time). Can't think of any right words that would express my shock at this terrible event.

One year after a 6.6 magnitude earthquake devastated the Iranian city of Bam, killing between 30,000 and 40,000 people.

"An enormous relief effort is on its way," he said, but "many billions of dollars" will be needed to restore lost buildings and livelihoods in the months ahead.

That would make the tsunami the most costly disaster in world history, Egeland said.

"Hundreds of thousands of livelihoods have gone, and most of those who lost their livelihoods are poor people with very little reserves of any kind," Egeland said. (from cbc.ca)

I hope that those who lost their livelihoods are able to rebuild from the aid that reaches those in need before outbreaks of diseases can occure.
 
I was watching CNN, and it really got my stepfather and I aggravated in how they report it.

"Over 24000 dead. Could this happen in America any time soon?"

I just thought....WTF!?!? Does it always have to relate to America somehow?

And of course, "There are estimates of over 24000 people dead, including 8 Americans." Uh oh, it's the new 9/11. Next, they showed pictures of Osama Bin Laden, as if they were going to tell us that Al Quaida had something to do with it.

I think I'd rather watch Fox News.
 
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