Numbers too big to bear
: The number keeps growing bigger and more incomprehensible. They always do. The latest says 59,000 died in the tsunami.
For perspective, this is rising almost to the number of all people killed in natural disasters last year, which itself was multiples over the totals in years before:
According to an annual survey by the German reinsurance giant Munich Re, 75,000 people were killed in natural disasters last year – up from 11,000 in 2002 and 25,000 in 2001. Most devastating were the Bam earthquake (40,000 dead, 30,000 injured) and heatwaves in Europe that claimed more than 20,000 lives. Economic losses were put at $US65 billion, up $10 billion on the previous year.
: UPDATE: An Italian official says the toll could reach 100,000.
