State TV: China quake death toll could hit 50,000

China - China warned the death toll from this week's earthquake could soar to some 50,000, while the government issued a rare public appeal Thursday for rescue equipment as it struggled to cope with the disaster. Rescue workers broke through key roads to the epicenter in the race to find survivors.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080515/...ina_earthquake

So sad! You know it's bad when China accepts help from Taiwan and Japan. It seems like every week some horrible tragedy killing thousands happens in Asia. I feel for all those who have been affected by the violent storms and fires we've had in recent years, but at least we aren't loosing 20 or 50 thousand people at a time. I think we have better early warning systems and our population is just less dense.

Re: State TV: China quake death toll could hit 50,000

Dh and I have talked about this a lot. Why is Asia having so many devestating storms/tsumanis/earthquakes?

Our conclusions are these:

1. Population density. Four billion people live in Asia. Two billion live in China alone. When disaster strikes there are a lot of people around and no where to go. If a major storm hit Megapolis (Washington DC to Boston), the death toll would be a lot higher than if it hit say Kansas or Nebraska where major torandos usually do hit.

2. Better early warning systems. Even in Katrina, there was advanced warning. Yes, many people died and suffered greatly, but imagine how many would have died, if there had been no warnings at all?

3. In spite of the media ramblings and international grumbling, the US is not the world's largest polluter. Asia produces much more pollution than both North and South America put together. China and India are two of the world's largest polluters. Europe is not blameless in this global warning crisis either. The hole in the ozone is over Spain not L.A. Our water can be treated to safely drinkable. This is not true in many European countries. The US and Canada have had clean air and water laws since the 60s. In spite of international blaming sessions, we are doing a lot about pollution and reforestation. The logging industry, for example, is strictly regulated as to where they can log and replanting after an area has been logged.

Global warming is a new bandwagon for most of the world, but the US and Canada have been talking and doing something about this since at least the 60s. Yes, our businesses farm out production to countries with less strict environmental laws, but we do not set the standards or pass laws for other countries. Cheap labor is as much a part of this as environmental laws.

True, pollution floats everywhere. The West Coast is suffering from poorer air quality not because of L.A., but because of China. Can we do more? Undoubtably. Are we doing more than the world body thinks we are? Definitely.

Mainly though, we think it's population density. You can't drop a rock without it hitting someone in Asia.