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[MoccaJava]

More than anyone, I send out my prayers to all the victims of this great tragedy. However, is anyone else finding the absolute insane death toll that keeps rising by the tens of thousands every single day (even though the tsunamii is days old) slightly fishy? Case in point: Two days ago, the death toll was at around 77,000. There was an article in the paper that the Red Cross predicted the toll would top 100,000.

The next day the death toll was up to (just around) 125,000.

I understand they are using some crude means to count these bodies (tossing 400 people in a mass grave and then multiplying that number by the amount of mass graves is a good example), but dare I say, the constant updating of the news with literally thousands and thousands more added on even every hour feels like it's cheapening the whole tragedy. It's not that I think the number is unrealistic in total - I have no problem believing that many people died - more than because we know the body count there is not being treated with precision, it feels like the media is latching on to anything and absolutely anything to make the damn thing seem even larger than what was already a huge devestating tragedy. It's a shameful thing to say, but it feels like the media has been trying to exaggerate the numbers all they can to keep viewers tuned in.

Anyone else been kind of thinking the same way, on at least some of what I'm talking about?

 

[carbonbased]

These are official death tolls, as reported by international agencies and the governments in the region, not some media hype tool.

 

[RedDwarf]

Well, they keep finding more and more remote locations, and the ocean keeps bringing bodies back to shore. Those are two pretty big ways to up a body count.

 

[MoccaJava]

That's fine, even if you exclude the shit about the media, my basic question can still be there.


Well I'm not surprised the body count is going up, but I personally am having a hard time fathoming how the figure got to 127,000 from 77,000 the day before. Especially because I can't even imagine them having the time to even really conduct a propoer count for that large a number.

 

[gofreak]

There are two running totals as far as I'm aware. A confirmed dead total and a missing total. I guess the reason the death toll keeps rising is because it's taking so long to count the numbers of bodies - the different countries seem to update their own totals periodically at different times, so there is a constant flow of new numbers and new updates to the global total.

 

[Wellington]

Even worse is going to be the deaths from the aftermouth. Widespread disease breakouts and famine as a result of destroyed crops will pretty much wipe out whatever is left of these countries.

 

[sc0la]

when all is said and done I wouldn't be surprised if the total toll was somewhere in the region of 250k including non tsunami ramifications like death due to complications from injury/infection and the imminent water contamination problems.

 

[MoccaJava]

I think another tragedy to come out of this is that because many of the countries hit are behind the times with their censuses and technology (relatively speaking, the scope of the disaster also has to do with it and that I understand) is that we will never know the actual count, and how many people will not only be left clueless as to whether they have friends and family surviving, but that all these people will have mostly been buried anonymously in mass graves.

 

[suaveric]

250k is way low. They think 400k+ is possible in Indonesia alone. Entire islands have disappeared and there's no one there to call and say "we're all dead".

 

[CajoleJuice]

Entire islands have disappeared and there's no one there to call and say "we're all dead".

I just laughed at that. I'm definitely going to hell. But you're probably right about the death toll. I'd be very surprised if it doesn't reach at least 400K in the coming months due to disease and famine. This is truly a disaster of biblical proportions.

 

[MoccaJava]

The death toll is now being reported as 150,000, though I only made this topic an hour ago.

 

[Raistlin]

Well I'm not surprised the body count is going up, but I personally am having a hard time fathoming how the figure got to 127,000 from 77,000 the day before. Especially because I can't even imagine them having the time to even really conduct a propoer count for that large a number.

I think the jumps come from two reasons you aren't considering; poor record keeping slowing things down, and the physical speed of the search and rescue. Whole islands disappeared and due to poor record keeping, its taking a while to get the guestimates for the numbers of inhabitants. Also, due to the extensive infastructure damage, its taking a while to get to some of the areas. Communications are out, so they have no idea what the level of damage is in some areas until they physically get there. No matter how many people are helping out, the physical size of the ravaged areas is astounding. Its going to be a while before things get sorted out.

Both of those circumstances can create huge jumps in the death count once the information becomes available.

 

[doncale]

I 'predicted' the death toll would officially reach 150,000 before new years in the U.S.

 

[Grifter]

I 'predicted' the death toll would officially reach 150,000 before new years in the U.S.

Great insight. Give this man his prize.

 

[Ned Flanders]

Morbidity + Levity = Quality thread IMO


As for the body count whoring..I kind of see where the original post is coming from as far as the media using escalating numbers to deepen the tragedy of the story, but the fact is that the numbers are independent of their usage, and we have a right to know the count. Its sad that they are then used as part of the hype machine, but thats just the nature of any large-scale disaster event.