Asian death toll reaches 44,000

[Neo]

http://cnn.aimtoday.cnn.com/news/sto...20041228XAI116

In Galle, Sri Lanka, officials used a loudspeaker atop a fire engine to tell residents to place bodies on the road for collection. Muslim families used cooking utensils and even their bare hands to dig graves. Hindus in India, abandoning their tradition of burning bodies, held mass burials.

Some dark humor for you - recall the scene from Monty Python's "Holy Grail" where they repeatedly bang on the pot and call out "bring out your dead!"

A new danger emerged Tuesday: UNICEF said uprooted land mines in Sri Lanka threatened to kill or maim aid workers and survivors. ``Mines were ... washed out of known mine fields, so now we don't know where they are,'' said Ted Chaiban, the Sri Lanka chief of UNICEF.

Now that really sucks.... You're walking along looking for survivors then all of a sudden KABLAMMO!!

The streets in Banda Aceh were filled with overturned cars and rotting corpses. Shopping malls and office buildings lay in rubble, and thousands of homeless families huddled in mosques and schools.

...Adil was making sandcastles with his younger sister, Reeze, while Haalima sat in her home Sunday morning. Haalima said the girl ran to her complaining that waves had crushed their castles, then came screams and water entered the home. ``When we looked, there was no shore anymore and no Adil,'' she said.

...For most people around the shores across the region, the only warning Sunday of the disaster came when shallow coastal waters disappeared, sucked away by the approaching tsunami, before returning as a massive wall of water. The waves wiped out villages, lifted cars and boats, yanked children from the arms of parents and swept away beachgoers, scuba divers and fishermen.

...Hundreds of thousands have lost everything, and millions face a hazardous future because of polluted drinking water, a lack of sanitation and no health services, he said.

[Ace195]

Dude, that completly sucks. Makes me wonder if the scenario in the movie day after tomorrow could really happen, maybe not the next ice age but the tornado's and whatnot.

[Jonbo298]

Unfortunately, thats the way mother nature works. Sometimes nature tries to balance things out in the worst ways possible.

[KillerGremlin]

The loss of 40,000 people so far is horrible, but I think it's even more horrible that these people did not have a warning in advance. The Tsunami that hit the coast was generated in the ocean several hours before it reached land, and it was moving 500mph by the time it hit the land. Most countries would have picked up the giant wave, and evacuated the coast. Thousands of lives would have been saved had the coast been evacuated, just an hour or two before the Tsunami hit.

But, it's just like Florida. If you live on The Ring Of Fire, or below Mt. St. Helens, don't be surprised if mother nature throws a curve ball in your direction. It's just like what I say about Florida: "You can build your houses back up next year, but don't be surprised or complaining after next hurricane season."

Hopefully someone gets the latest technology down there, so a tragedy like this never happens again. =/

[Su-Yin]

current toll: 60000... sri lanka and southern india is in shambles...including all the tourist destinations....phuket...bali...smaller islands got completely washed away. i had relatives living in areas which got hit, but im glad theyre all alright. bodies are still floating up, bloated and in pieces. its really sad. Malaysia can finance its own medical help and rebuilding of the coastal area ...we have more than enough medical personel from around the country....but i feel the poorer countries which got hit really need our help. There are still after shocks every now and then. Its scary that things like that happen because ever since i was a child, i was taught in geography that malaysia is one of the very few countries which was free from natural disasters other than thunder storms or floods(we dont hzave quakes/typhoons/volcanos/etc.). The earthquake was from a neighbouring country and the tidal wave caused so many deaths in our nothern islands. Its a real shock to many malaysians cause things like that have never in history happened. i really pity the islands which solely rely on tourism to survive, its going to be hard to pick up the pieces

[DeathsHand]

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

The loss of 40,000 people so far is horrible, but I think it's even more horrible that these people did not have a warning in advance.

The thing is, I heard people in the US DID pick up the wave and did warn that a tsunami could follow in the quake's wake, but even then, with there being no warning system in place for most of those countries (if not all), there was no way to get the message out to all the people...

They also say as a general thing, if you're ever near a coastline and a strong quake lasting more than 20 seconds occurs, it's a good idea to seek higher ground... (^-^

[GameMaster]

At least the deaths are the result of natural causes instead of man-made. It's still sad.

[Su-Yin]

i dont think they were expecting it at all.....

[BlueFire]

This is quite the disaster. The sea is very unforgiving. I'm sure there are many restless souls about in those areas where so many have died. It's very depressing.

[Happydude]

poor people...at least now the governemtn will look more into detection of natural disasters...it's a shame it hasn't in the past. R.I.P all those who have perished.

[Blackmane]

The disease in these areas is going to be bad if they have that many bodies unattended. That has the potential to be more deadly than the Tsunamis...

[Shadow_Link]

It's expected to rise over 70,000

[Jonbo298]

Originally Posted by GameMaster

At least the deaths are the result of natural causes instead of man-made. It's still sad.

Actually, its a mixture of both. I heard that over the years, hotel resorts and whatnot have been moving closer to the coastline and with all the people who were moving closer to it, this is the result. So it was a natural cause with man made things (or just people in general) moving closer to the coastline.

[Crash]

Death toll = 76,700... expected to be over 100,000 in the next couple days... yikes... that's a lot of people... did they find jet li yet or is he still missing?

[Professor S]

Well all of these countries should feel much better now, as I just saw on TV that France has pledged $136,000 to the relief effort...

In case you didn't get it, that was DRIPPING with sarcasm. And people wonder why we hate France...