Why is now rich China giving so little relief? Are they too busy building up their military? Why?
Bodies were piled into mass graves in the belief that burial would ward off disease. ... But Dana Van Alphan of the Pan American Health Organization issued a statement declaring there was no danger of corpses contaminating water or soil because bacteria and viruses cannot survive in dead bodies. The organization said it issued the statement, hoping to avert mass burials of tens of thousands of unidentified victims.Botulism. Flies, and fly-borne diseases. Ar these people out of their minds. Clearly the world's elite wants to ID the bodies of the elite, but why do they risk the lifes of the poor, the greiving and ruined to do so?Van Alphan said it was important for survivors to be allowed to identify loved ones and urged authorities in tsunami-stricken countries to avoid burying unidentified corpses in mass graves.
"I think that psychologically, people have to be given the chance to identify their family members," she said. "Whatever disease the person has while still alive poses no threat to public health in a corpse." The World Health Organization has also said dead bodies are not an immedieate threat to health.
"The health hazard associated with dead bodies is negligible. The collection, disposal, burying and/or cremation of corpses requires important human and material resources which should instead be allocated to those who survived and remain in critical condition," the organization said in a news release after the 1999 earthquake in Turkey. "
Van Alphan said it was important for survivors to be allowed to identify loved ones and urged authorities in tsunami-stricken countries to avoid burying unidentified corpses in mass graves.
"I think that psychologically, people have to be given the chance to identify their family members," she said. "Whatever disease the person has while still alive poses no threat to public health in a corpse."
The World Health Organization has also said dead bodies are not an immedieate threat to health.
"The health hazard associated with dead bodies is negligible. The collection, disposal, burying and/or cremation of corpses requires important human and material resources which should instead be allocated to those who survived and remain in critical condition," the organization said in a news release after the 1999 earthquake in Turkey..."
This will impose at the very least, a great assault upon the senses of those heading over there to help in recovery efforts.
Just out of curiosity, how are they coming up with the 'death count'? Are they counting actual bodies? Lists of missing? Empty towns?
I read earlier on a blog that the actual numbers of dead are not being released. The poster said the number was more like 500,000 and might end up around 1,000,000.
They said because of avoiding widespread panic, the real numbers were not being put in the media.
Don't know how true this is. Has anyone else heard this?