Death Toll
- 23 January 1556, China. Earthquake killed 830,000.
- 28 July 1976, China. Earthquake killed 655,000.
- 9 August 1138, Syria. Earthquake killed 230,000.
- 13 November 1970, Pakistan. Cyclone-created tsunami killed over 200,000.
- 22 December 856, Iran. Earthquake killed 200,000.
- 16 December 1920, China. Earthquake killed 200,000 people.
- 22 May 1927, China. Earthquake killed 200,000.
(via Gibson)
Listen: 1642, China: Rebels destroyed Kaifeng seawall; 300,000 drowned. So it goes.
In Slaughterhouse 5, Kurt Vonnegut quotes forwards to The Destruction of Dresden by David Irving. Here is the second forward, by Air Marshal Saundby. Irving states the death toll as being 135,000, greater than that of Hiroshima (80,000) or Nagasaki (75,000) (though both double their figures in subsequent deaths directly attributable to the bombs).
But David Irving, is that David Irving, and he forged evidence, attached credence to unreliable evidence, bent reliable evidence/falsified statistics, suppressed/failed to take account of reliable material, and misrepresented evidence. The death toll is more like 35,000.
So it goes.
I don’t think this alters Saundby and Vonnegut’s point.
Slaughterhouse 5 rocked my world when I read it in ’97. I need to reread it. Hello, farewell, hello, farewell.
PS
Everyone from 1556 is dead now.
PPS
Nicholas Kristof: “[T]his month and every month, more people will die of malaria (165,000 or more) and AIDS (240,000) than died in the tsunamis, and almost as many will die because of diarrhea (140,000).”
By Ainsley, 14 hours, 39 minutes after the fact
I’m confused. What is your point? Are you saying that the world is making too much of the recent tsunami when other (much worse) stuff has happened in the past? Are you saying that our response to previous tragedies was inadequate? Are you saying that people just die? Are you asking what is so special about the recent events that is making cricket players and the world dig so deep and pledge so much money to this one thing when lots of other people are dying and suffering? None of the above?
I agree that life has a high mortality rate.
I thought the idea with giving to the tsunami appeal was more about preventing more deaths and rebuilding, not the actual dead stats. To some extent we cannot prevent the deaths of people with AIDS or malaria in the same way as the world can assist with this disaster relief.
By Andrew, 1 day, 9 hours after the fact
Part of the point is to stop the immediate thought of “is this the worst disaster ever?” These numbers show it’s not even the worst natural disaster in recent history. It may not *matter* but I think this needs to be pointed out.
One thing this disaster did that others (probably) have not is that they effected so many countries, so many different people, not because they were tourist areas but because the tsunami reached so many different beaches.
The AIDS and poverty related numbers point out that our country has thrown money at this disaster (which it should have) to rebuild, but it seems we’re only willing to do that when the problem is so immediate. 100,000s of people die of starvation each year and yet we don’t throw money at those countries.
This needs to be pointed out. Again and again. Hopefully statistics like this get people sponsoring children and donating regularly.
By David Golding, 1 day, 9 hours after the fact
My points are various (and probably confusing, and confused) as usual…
1. Scale. This disaster is in the Top Ten.
2. Perspective. This disaster is not in the Top Five. It’s not even the biggest in living memory.
3. Perspective. I’ve never heard of the second biggest disaster, the biggest in “living memory”. The Chinese government hushed it up. (I’m not sure they could do that today.)
4. Learning. Apart from learning the above things, I learned that a fact I picked up from my favourite novel (and subsequently checked in reference books) is wrong.
5. Killing. Humans are up there with nature and they don’t need nuclear weapons to do it.
6. Slaughterhouse Five. Is my favourite novel. Flipping through it I found all sorts of bits with relevance to The Matrix and The Invisibles and other obsessions. I need to reread and cross-reference.
7. Death is nothing to us. Where there’s life there’s hope.
8. Perspective. What matters depends on where you look. I don’t know why I look one way and not another. I dunno…
I don’t know what we can do about AIDS because of the behavioural component. But malaria, diarrhea, and deaths relating to bad drinking water are absolutely the same thing as the tsunami disaster. We just look at the wreckage and deny it needs to be rebuilt, deny that we can rebuild it.
But the relief effort for the tsunami disaster is a good thing.
By David Golding, 1 day, 9 hours after the fact
Disclaimer: while I gave generously for the tsunami appeal, I only gave a token amount on World AIDS Day, and have given nothing for other problems recently.