Reply #68: First topic mentions casualties on W. coast of Sumatra not counted yet...

[6th Borough]

...But the ministry said this figure did not include data from districts on the island's hard-hit western coast...

This is just the beginning, folks...consider that they haven't yet surveyed the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. In other words, no official numbers are in for the side of the island that actually faced the epicenter of the earthquake.

As for Shri Lanka, some of the hardest hit areas are governed by the TTLE (the political organization of the ethnic Tamil separatist group), not Shri Lanka's central government...many of the dead and missing from those regions haven't been put into any official tally.

Another concern that has been bouncing around in my brain is the (possible) situation in Myanmar (Burma's "new name).

Myanmar appears likely to have taken a massive hit, yet the # of dead stands officially at only 142 (not too long ago it was zero). Lest you forget (or didn't know), Myanmar is controlled by a totalitarian military oligarchy that for the most part does not allow access to any foreign press; effectively controlling all information disseminated both to and from its citizens and the rest of the world.

I have a bad feeling about the Myanmar situation; what the real numbers may be. Considering tourism is their main industry, the facts should become a little less foggy over time...unless the Myanmar authorities perform a complete scrub job.

If they do need help, they very well might turn it down or not request it anyway...Myanmar doesn't have a "donor" state to turn to; a relationship similar to the one between North Korea and China.

I'm not even to get into disease, incomplete census's, the many islands located between Sumatra and the African coast...

This is going to get a lot worse.