Just saw CNN crawler, "Possible 10,000 dead in Miyagi"

[robdogbucky]

Is this possible? What is there?

I have the sound down and it went to commercial just as I started to read the rest of the messages about Japan.

Can anyone fill in some information on this?

Was it just a CNN typo?



rdb

[Lucinda]

1. There are that many missing in one town alone

Not sure if it's the one that they have been talking about since yesterday though...

[HuckleB]

2. I think I read something similar on the NYT site this morning.

Apparently, they think some entire villages/small towns disappeared in the tsunami, along with most of the people.

I hope this is not accurate.

[City Lights]

3. I'm pretty sure that's the area that had 9,500 people still missing.

My guess is that by now they're presumed to be dead. :-(

[cliffordu]

4. And then of course there's the FOUR commuter trains that are MIA

But I haven't heard a word about them since yesterday.

[Baclava]

14. 'Missing Japan train found, thrown off tracks, all passengers dead'

The only report I've seen. Don't know how accurate it is.

http://www.trainweb.com/links/2011/03/1299964321.html

[Duer 157099]

5. I was surprised that the early numbers were so low

Considering that the tsunami reached the shore just minutes after the quake, we have to accept that most of those cars and ships and boats and homes that were being swept away contained people.

They simply had no time to do anything.

The number is going to be staggering, imho.

[kestrel91316]

6. That was a coastal town of 17,500 that got wiped off the map.

10,000 were missing there, last I heard. And presumed dead IMHO.

I am gonna venture a guess that the final death toll for this thing, nationwide, will exceed 100k.

[malaise]

9. Yep it's looking that way

:cry:

[Bosonic]

7. What is there?

There used to be a town of ~17,000 there... not much left now though.

About 30 mins to evacuate town max from beginning of earthquake before Tsunami approach.

[jannyk]

8. Here's a thread where we discussed it yesterday

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=622877&mesg_id=622877

BBCWorld TV is now on the ground on the road outside Minamisanriku. Progress is slow because of all the debris and 'lakes' of water in the way. The town basically no longer exists.

[robdogbucky]

11. But then there was hope because they showed another town

that had time to evacuate before the tsunami to higher ground and they all pretty much survived. But did anyone else see the video that one of them took of the tsunami when is swept their town away below them as they watched?

That is what I hope is the case here.

[JHB]

12. There's too many places where there wasn't quick access to high ground

In the NHC helicopter videos of the tusnami in progress you can make out cars racing to get away (and some that were still moving towards the water because they obviously didn't know). Mercifully, I didn't see anyone getting overwhemed right there on camera, but the notion that everyone could evacuate was beyond hoping for.

Just by taking a quick look at the populations of affected towns, well over 100,000 people lived in just part of the affected areas.

[jannyk]

13. No, there's not much hope for these poor souls.

The 7,000 that remain from the 17,000 ARE the survivors - the others are just gone.

Today the BBC show a 60 year old man floating 10 MILES out in the Ocean on the roof of his house. What was left of the roof is like a small, flat raft and 10 miles out he was surrounded by floating debris. His wife was swept away. Many of the 'missing' would have been swept out to sea. Many are in vehicles and many under the many feet of mud and debris left behind. If you could see the scenes we are seeing on BBC you would know they are not just 'missing'. There is no-where for them to be.

The danger now is for the survivors. Anyone who did survive got wet. Every possession got wet and it is below freezing (been snowing) there. No dry clothes, no dry blankets and no means of heat except for burning debris. Hypothermia is a grave danger and help is just arriving.

The hospital is basically the only building still standing - it is 5 stories tall. The tsunami engulfed it to the 4th floor - 2/3 of the patients and some of the Doctors/Nurses are unaccounted for. There was just not enough time to escape. That wave was moving at 500 miles an hour. The town was only 80 miles from the epicenter. The wave came inland up to 5 miles. They just didn't have enough time.

edit:typo

[godai]

10. Not a typo. Death toll may even be a lot higher. n/t