There is a brighter side to the Japanese Earthquake, if you can call it that

[Taverner]

That being the death toll could have been far worse.

Japan was able to evacuate most of its coastal cities. Their structres held up as good as any during the earthquake

What I'm trying to say is things could have been far worse

Considering the amount of property damage, a 1K death toll is pretty good, considering...

[Desertrose]

1. Uhhmm...it's going to go a lot higher I'm afraid.....

hope I'm wrong though.

[Taverner]

15. Yes, I know. 15K missing

But even if all of those missing were deaths, 15K is much better than 100K, which would have been the case if this were Haiti, or even Thailand.

[Frustratedlady]

2. Those are just the bodies they have found, right?

I can't imagine it includes any pulled out to sea. I've seen cities where thousands of people are unaccounted for. I hope they are OK, but I fear the numbers will be much higher.

[malaise]

3. Well since people were at work, school, etc

it is clear their infrastructure in the cities was built to very high standards but believe me when I tell you that thousands are dead from the tsunami - thousands.

[Taverner]

9. I don't doubt you

But even if the 15K missing are in fact dead, that's not as bad as it could have been

[hunter]

4. When we get ours I suspect it will be worse.

Our response to Hurricane Katrina was not encouraging.

[tavalon]

5. It absolutely could have been worse

Unfortunately, with 15,000 people still missing, an early accounting like this means nothing except to their grieving families.

[Taverner]

7. Yes, true that

But even if all 15K were deceased, 16K for an Earthquake of this magnitude is coming out on top, IMO

[shraby]

6. There was video of what looked like an entire town on fire..

a large town at that. There were whole towns inundated in the tsunami in fairly flat land and the residents had very little warning it was coming. The bell has just begun to toll for the dead.

[Atman]

8. What video are you looking at?

Common sense will tell you that the death toll being reported now is ridiculously understated. There were people in those cars, trains, homes, boats, farmhouses...there is no way the current figures are even close to accurate.

[Taverner]

11. Like I've said elsewhere on this thread

Let's just say the 15K that are missing are in fact dead, 16K dead from a 9 pt quake is pretty good, especially if you consider how dense Japan is.

[WinkyDink]

10. "Brighter"? Why, it's positively glowing!

[Taverner]

12. Yeah - I knew that wasn't the right word

But its a bit like telling a man who lost both legs and both arms in combat, that "At least you still have your mouth!"

Brighter is the wrong word, but I don't know what other word to use

[JI7]

17. the wrong word was probably used but don't miss the point the OP is making

it is important.

[JI7]

13. it is important to acknowledge how much higher the death toll would have been

it's bad as it is now. but i assume Japan has strict regulations , govt controls etc for safety reasons.

what if Haiti was built to the standard that Japan has been ?

i'm tired of fools screaming communism , socialism etc . they don't even know what it means. but there is a reason for such laws.

[Taverner]

14. "Socialism" helped Japan quickly evacuate its costal cities and towns

And unlike the US, their towns and cities are DENSE

So as much as this sounds cold, it could have been far worse

[JI7]

16. yeah, at this time it might sound bad because there will be a lot of deaths

but i hope later on there is some study done. what if all those buildings and other infrastructure were not built to the standards they have ?

[liberal N proud]

18. 1000 is media speak

There must be many more the way that tsunami swept across the land.

[Taverner]

20. My guess? Something >16K

Which is still good, considering the magnitude

[tavalon]

19. Especially with the rapidly changing situation at Fukushima 1

[Taverner]

21. THAT has got me scared

3 Nuke plants, out of control

And these were the newest technology, the most modern safety standards, and the Japanese as a whole take safety standards very seriously

And STILL they had this problem. That tells me we aren't ready to deal with Fission Technology at this point.

[tavalon]

24. I'm on the fence about nuclear power

Well, I was. I think I may be leaning away from it. Haven't decided yet, but one conclusion I've come to is nuclear plants should not be located on the ring of fire or any other fault lines. Now that I think of that, it's just dumb.

[Taverner]

25. Thing is, we need to find a power source that doesn't kill everyone when it gets broken

Oil Drilling, Nuclear Meltdowns can only end in disaster when broken

Wind power, solar, geothermal, tidal powers do not hurt anyone when they break. Unless you're standing under one.

[LawnKorn]

22. Wait until they have three nuclear reactors melting down simultaneously

But the good news is we are seeing the end of commercial nuclear power.

[Taverner]

23. Yes, and considering Japan is way ahead of France, technically

If THEY have problems, then maybe its not the right time to increase use of Fission Technology