Re: Didn't all the left-handed Jewish people leave the Tsunami area the day before? Someone needs to look into that.
It doesn't take a conspiracy nut to do the math:
Tsunami toll hits 120,000; 2 Israeli casualties identified
By Eyal Avrahami and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondents and agencies
The mercilessness of Asia's tsunami grew clearer on Thursday as worst-hit Indonesia sharply raised its death toll, taking the number of fatalities around the whole Indian Ocean region above 120,000.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry announced Thursday afternoon that Thai authorities had identified two bodies as those of Israeli tourists.
One of the bodies has been identified by Israeli authorities but the victim's name has not been released for publication. The victim's family, now in Thailand, was been notified of the identification.
There were mounting concerns for the fate of 10 Israelis still missing in the area, among them five about whom there is evidence of their having been killed.
Of the 10, five are missing in Thailand, four in Sri Lanka, and one in India's Andaman Islands.
[...]
haaretz.com
Friday December 31, 12:04 AM
European tsunami toll feared in thousands
By Patrick Lannin and Peter Starck
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden says more than 1,000 Swedes may have been killed in the Asian tsunami, the worst death toll for any foreign country.
Some 5,000 foreign tourists, mostly Europeans, were still missing four days after the wall of water hit coasts and devastated beach resorts round the Indian Ocean. Germany said more than 1,000 of its citizens were still missing.
As relatives combed Asian beaches in search of missing loved ones and police tried to identify the dead, newspapers, politicians and people across Scandinavia fumed on Thursday at what they said was the slow response of their governments to the crisis.
Flags were to fly at half-mast in Sweden, Norway and Finland on January 1 while New Year's Eve events were being toned down.
"It is clear to everyone that the number of casualties will be in the hundreds. In the worst case the number could rise over 1,000," said Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson. "Sweden is a small country and it is a huge number of dead."
Forty-four had been confirmed killed, up from six, he said.
A Swedish Foreign Ministry official said the first bodies might be brought back this weekend. As Sweden lacked coffins, it would appeal to U.N. agencies for more, the official said.
SWEDISH FEARS
Among foreign states, Sweden has feared being hardest hit as its people have flocked for years to Thailand to escape long, cold winters.
Officials raised the figure of Swedish missing to 2,500 from 1,500.
More than 120,000 people in Indonesia, India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and other countries as far away as Africa have been listed as killed.
Tourists from Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, South Africa and South Korea were also among the dead.
Nearly 700 Italians, 430 Norwegians, 419 Danes, 263 Finns, 200 Czechs and 294 Singaporean tourists are among those reported missing.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has said hundreds of his countrymen probably died in the disaster.
A deputy foreign minister said on Thursday 33 Germans were confirmed dead, while more than 1,000 were missing.
[...]
uk.news.yahoo.com
U.S. toll grows; State Dept. pares down list of the missing
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The U.S. death toll from the Indian Ocean tsunami rose to 36 on Wednesday as the State Department added 20 Americans who are missing and presumed dead.
The bodies of the additional people have not been recovered, but they are presumed dead "based on information we've gotten from eyewitnesses and other people on the scene," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said. Nine deaths were in Sri Lanka; 27 in Thailand.
The State Department previously said 16 Americans were confirmed dead. Ereli said the names are not being released out of respect for the families.
The State Department is still working on 3,500 inquiries about the whereabouts of Americans — down from 6,000 on Monday and 26,000 earlier. Most inquiries have been duplicates or involved individuals who survived or were not in the countries hit by the Dec. 26 tsunami.
[...]
usatoday.com |
