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counting the dead in Japan

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 2011.06.15

One of the things that's really struck me about the situation in Japan is the low death count. It's a nasty business, of course.

But I've wondered at how difficult it must be to come up with credible figures. Now it looks like it's difficult indeed. It's been three months and in some places they're still hunting through the debris.

Naturally, there are reports of dismay at how things have been handled. Such as this quote; “I think the government should tell us more quickly the real story of what happened here.” (from the Washington Times).

My guess is that we won't know very well for the rest of this year, at least. And that it will come to a figure three times the official count of 15,000 dead. Ganbare Japan.

rand()m quote

If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it. A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.

—Roald Dahl