I suspect this IS bigger; in destruction, death toll and economic impact. It's possible and we're watching it happen. Someone said "slow 911." That's damn right.
It may resemble Southeast Asia's tsunami more than 9-11 when the true death toll is admitted to. For now I guess they don't want to shock people more than they are but the truth is, they're not telling us except in very oblique ways what the true cost of this is in lost lives. Very soon though, many of those alive now will die as they succumb to heatstroke and other problems from lack of water and food. Eventually the unburied corpses will begin to smell and NO will be uninhabitable. Disease will be a real problem. This could start to happen in the next 24 hours.