Death Toll Climbs in Asia

As the recovery efforts in Asia continue in the wake of Sunday's earthquake and tsunami, the death toll has climbed above 40,000, a number that is sure to rise as the rescue workers continue their work, more bodies are found, and government officials increase the death toll. The situation could get worse as millions of people are displaced, access to food and water is limited, and the spread of disease is immanent. The New York Times is reporting on the high number of children that are among the dead, with as many as 1/3 of those dead in Sri Lanka and Indonesia being children. From survivors of the disaster, one of the worst natural disasters in recent history, there are chilling stories of survival. The survival stories coming out of Asia are not unlike that of Petra Nemcova who hung onto a tree for eight hours with a broken pelvis and other internal injuries.

The Daily News is reports that a tsunami also hit New York, saying, "it's only a matter of time." If loose chunk of the Canary Islands falls into the ocean, there could be waves as high as 75 feet. The waves would take 8-10 hours to reach the East coast. The tsunami that Gothamist was emailed about earlier this month never came though. With news like that, we hope that UNESCO adds someo tsunami warning ceners in the Atlantic.

- Graphic by ABC News

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By tien mao in News on December 28, 2004 12:33 PM

Comments [rss]

PK

I gotta wonder now if "warning, Tsunami headed your way" Spam comes out all the time?

Or is it some weird "coincidence" that one came out in early December? I mean, what the ?!

Doctor Memory

D- I have friends in BKK, and from what they tell me Bangkok itself is physically unaffected, although the Thai phone system is kinda overloaded right now. Hope you're sister is okay.

D

I'm worried about my sister, who lives in Bangkok and vacations in the south pretty frequently. Still no word from her- anyone know if BKK is hit by power outages or other chaos?

Dirk

Did anyone see the cover of the Daily News? Jesus, fifty-thousand dead and they put a swimsuit model on the cover. Now that's good journalism...

homeopt

Does anyone know if Beard Papa delivers?

S.D.

The scale of this tragedy is just too big to fully grasp. I feel bad for the victims, but I'm honestly just numb with shock at the amount of people lost so suddenly.

My deepest condolences to anyone who lost a friend or loved on to this.

That ABC graphic was based on this NOAA Quicktime Video. Background on how they extrapolated it is provided here.

SAS

a blog has been setup for "news and information about resources, aid, donations and volunteer efforts".

they have referrals to many organizations directly involved in the relief effort:

http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com

Captain Obvious

Scazza, you realize that NYC is not just a bunch of high rises. If a Tsunami hit, you could kiss most of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island goodbye.

But then again, bridge and tunnel people don't count? The Manhattan-centric tone of your assessment is nauseating. Anyone who has seen what hurricanes can do to the oute boroughs of this city know the truth.

Captain Obvious

Enough about this Tsunami stuff! How about we get back to topics we all care about. Like that hawk Pale Male!!!

44,000 people are DEAD but nobody cares about a cute bird anymore.

For shame!!!

scazza

Oh and Yahoo has a great database of photos of the disaster. It is nice to see more than just what is being published on the front pages of newssources.

And Wikipedia also has a excellent entry as well detailing humanitarian assistance, and the best links from the web.

scazza

Much of the devastation happened because of human intervention in the form of resorts. I don't think NYC's tourists mainly come here for the beach culture (I guess there are the Hamptons though), nor do most of our industry come from our fishing communities (that may be a little more to the north, around Boston). Those countries affected by the tsunamis also have a high concentration of poor who live on the undeveloped section of beaches who were victims to this disaster. If a tsunami hit NYC I think most of us would be safe up in our highrises, Central Park or in our neighborhoods far from the coast. It is really the West coast and our Southeastern coast that are most vulnerable.

Jen

My great-uncle was walking along the beach in Penang; luckily, he saw the wave coming, so he grabbed ahold of a tree and hung on. He's okay, but the whole matter is so sad and terrible...

More links about the tsunami and relief here and here.