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[technoir]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Kashmir_earthquake

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The 2005 Kashmir earthquake occurred at 8:50:38 a.m. West Asia Standard Time (Pakistan Standard Time) and 9:20:38 a.m. (India Standard Time) (03:50:38 UTC), on October 8, 2005 with the epicenter in the Pakistan-administered region of the disputed territory of Kashmir. It registered 7.6 on the Moment magnitude scale making it a major earthquake similar in intensity to the famous 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Initially, official Pakistani estimates were that the earthquake has killed over 42,000 people and injured over 65,000. [1] However, as most of the affected areas are in mountainous regions and have been rendered inaccessible by landslides that have blocked the roads, the death toll is estimated to be much higher. At least 2.5 million people have been left homeless.


So why is it we do not get the hundreds of posts concerning this? Do we just care less if it is on the other side of the world? Are we simply just numb? Is there a point when the sheer level of disaster after disaster make the names just bleed together? I know I feel the same sence of powerless frustration watching that news as i did watching the news from New Orleans. If your one who believes in prayer say a few for those poor souls.

just my thoughts.

Comments

[jenharts.livejournal.com]

The numbers I'd heard were a lot lower - in the mid-20,000s - as far as casualties. But I did the math the other night. Add up all the people killed in Katrina and Rita. Add all the people killed in 9/11. Add all the US military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan in the current conflict.

Even if you assume the fatality rate in the Kashmir earthquake is 25,000-ish, you'd have to multiply all of the above by more than 3x in order to match the number killed in the earthquake. Assuming technoir's numbers are right, it's even higher.

I agree that many of us know people directly effected by Katrina, so it's close to the forefront of our minds. It is literally close to home, and I don't fault anyone in the slightest for it - and the other tragedies I mentioned above - being a bigger deal to us than something that happens on the other side of the planet. Of course it is, and I do not want to in any way belittle the importance of our losses. However I do think it's important for us to occasionally put things in a broader perspective too.

[technoir.livejournal.com]

I think the numbers thing is part of it at least. So many people have died in natural disatsters in the last 12 months so as to just overwhelm any sense of perspective. 230,000 people died in the tsunami in december alone. It is hard to imagine that many people dying.