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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Toll in Asian tsunamis above 24,000 |
| 2004-12-28 |
| The death toll in the tsunamis that ripped across Southeast and South Asia climbed above 24,000 on Tuesday as emergency and government officials said two days after the disaster that they feared the number of victims would increase sharply. Bodies continued to wash ashore as thousands of people were missing - washed out to sea, buried in rubble or trapped in submerged buildings. Hundreds of thousands were left homeless, and coastlines left desolate. "We have to assume that thousands of people who are missing are dead," U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland told reporters in New York. The cleanup was well under way, and international relief efforts began as disease threatened the areas devastated in Sunday's disaster. Egeland said millions of people would be affected in the "second wave" of the tsunamis, meaning disease outbreaks and lack of necessities after the disaster. "Drinking water for millions has been polluted," he said Monday at U.N. headquarters in New York. "Disease will be a result of that, and also acute respiratory disease always comes in the wake of disasters." Regional governments and businesses were still coming to grips with the extent of the devastation, triggered by an undersea earthquake off the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The magnitude-9 quake, the world's biggest in 40 years, spawned ferocious waves that caused deaths as far away as Somalia and caused water levels to rise as far away as San Diego, California. The tsunami produced waves as high as 6 metres, and their force was so strong that one tourist couple in Sri Lanka who were tumbled in the tsunami were stripped naked. They survived, penniless, but by the goodness of Sri Lankans, had clothes to travel to an airport to try to fly home. The hardest-hit areas were poor fishing villages on the coasts of southern India and Sri Lanka in a disaster the United Nations called "a catastrophe without precedent". More than 12,000 were dead in Sri Lanka, and the toll in India neared 7,000. Deaths were also recorded in Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Malaysia, the Maldives, Bangladesh and Somalia. At least a third of the dead were children. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #9 When I was at lunch the estimated totals were at 49,000, according to Fox. They're probably higher than that now. |
| Posted by: Phil Fraering 2004-12-28 3:54:22 PM |
| #8 The loss in human lives could have been reduced, to a degree, if an Indian Ocean based early warning system had been in place. The death toll has it stands right now are only known, reported bodies. Some islands have yet to report.  After another week or so the totals may very well reach 75.000 to 100.000. Many of those will be people who were pulled out to sea and not accounted for. |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-12-28 3:44:51 PM |
| #7 Barbara - And I can't wait for the breaking news story coming out of Islam that the Jooo DeepSea Submersible The Lion of Zion was spotted off Sumatra only 3 days before The Day After Tomorrow event... I'll bet Al Jizz gets the scoop... |
| Posted by: .com 2004-12-28 1:39:06 PM |
| #6 You can put it at 100,000 lost and probably still won't count or account for everybody. Many of those lost were in small, poor villages by the coast. Probably most of them had no relatives inland who will look for them, and probably none of them had ID. We'll never know the true extent of the loss of human life. And the economic losses will haunt these countries for years. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-12-28 1:31:37 PM |
| #5 you can probably double that |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-12-28 9:01:47 AM |
| #4 9am EST, new numbers 39,000 - 44,000 |
| Posted by: Jealet Omereting8242 2004-12-28 8:58:45 AM |
| #3 BTW, King Bumibol of Thailand's grandson (half American) was jet-skiing, off Phuket I think they said, and was killed. I'd say it's a safe bet that the King "gets it" regards this disaster - and would've guessed he would, anyway. He's quite old, now, but for a King thingy, he was an ace. Anyway, there will certainly not be any detached authoritarian view of the disaster in Thailand from anyone in power. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-12-28 4:44:26 AM |
| #2 And Drudge gives this link to AP MyWay - total tops 42,000. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-12-28 1:54:30 AM |
| #1 Approaching Bam. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-12-28 1:20:49 AM |