Experts say death toll may exceed 100,000 in Haiti

[WeDidIt]

Just reported on CNN.

Duer malaise called it last night:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7451284

Edited to add: Haiti Prime Minister now saying HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS. Reported on CNN top banner http://www.cnn.com/

This could exceed the Sumatran Earthquake/Tsunami as the most devestating natural disaster in recent history.

[AngryOldDem]

1. Sadly, I'm not the least bit surprised.

When natural disasters and abject, grinding poverty collide, a lot of people die.

[kenny blankenship]

2. I would believe it. The capital viewed from a hillside was swirling dust from collapsed buildings

from one side to the other. (That was video footage from yesterday)

Every day in Haiti is a humanitarian tragedy - and then this happens. Given the apparent extent of damage, at this point we have to assume that Haiti as a functioning nation state doesn't exist. We will have to bring EVERYTHING.

It's too soon to talk about how long we may be involved in Haiti's recovery, but I think this going to be a very large commitment - of the kind we should be making, instead of building sand castles in Afghanistan and Iraq or Yemen.

[FedUpWithIt All]

3. They are saying on some of the feeds that the ocean has receded half a mile.

Does anyone know if this was during the earthquake itself or do they mean permanently. If they mean during the first quake, wouldn't that have caused a very serious tsunami? Was there a tsunami?

Sorry if i sound ignorant.

OK, i guess it was just a rumor that circulated in the panic and has not been completely put to rest.

Never mind.

Please donate.

[FarCenter]

6. If the ocean receded a half mile permanently, it may significantly complicate shipping

The airport appears to be a single east-west runway, so that is fairly limited.

Bringing in the aircraft carrier Vinson may be tricky if the earthquake has changed the depths in the harbors.

[AngryOldDem]

7. No tsunamis.

There were watches/warnings for surrounding islands, but those were later cancelled. From what I understood, the epicenter was fairly close to the surface, on land, so water impacts were minimal. Don't really understand seismology, though.

[FarCenter]

4. According to wiki, the 1556 Shaanxi earthquake with 830,000 dead was the biggest earthquake

The biggest disasters were floods in China with over a million dead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_natural_disasters_by_death_toll#Top_10_deadliest_natural_disasters

[Warpy]

5. I said earlier that this was very much like the Tangshan quake in 1976

that left an estimated quarter of the population dead.

We'll never know the true total because of the nature of the government at that time.