Blue Cat

was the death figure as high as that?

Millhouse

something like that. They probably stopped counting at 200,000 though.

how time forgets.

Blue Cat

I had no idea it went so high

lionheart

I read somewhere that the 2004 tsunami death toll was around 150,000 but, as it was spread amongst thirty countries, the effect may not have been quite as intense as this one. We shall see.

Ethos83

Most of them were poor villagers living in rural fishing villages. Of course they weren't important in the greater scheme of things, so what's a hundred thousand versus two hundred thousand?

God forbid 10,000 Brits or Aussies or Americans get killed in a tidal wave...

lionheart

What are you moaning about? What I was trying to say was that 150,000 fatalities spread among 30 nations may not be as intense as 50-75,000 in one country. Incidentally, I suspect there were plenty of poor fishermen killed on Friday too.

Kim67

A family friend (his wife is currently one of my kids teachers) has just been sent all around our home state (he's in fire and rescue) due to flooding and cyclones and was sent to Christchurch just over a week ago. I've seen today that some of our Australian teams in Christchurch have been pulled out and sent to Japan - I don't know whether he's one of them - will find out from my girlfriend tomorrow. This is the kind of help Japan needs, but it's worrying seeing friends sent of to these disaster zones knowing that another quake could occur any time.