Today they are saying the death toll from the tsunami is exceeding 100,000 people........not to lessen how horrible this trajedy really is, but did you know that every year 440,000 people die from cigarette smoking related illnesses.......that's about 1,200 each day. I just heard that on the news. :shock:
I heard on radio that 2 million people die of malaria each year. Partly because the World Heath Organization bans the use of DDT in those countries. When was the last time you heard of anyone dying of malaria in the United States?
This might be the wrong thing to say here and I might get flamed but the big difference is that cigarette smokers choose to put themselves at risk. The folks in Southeast Asia were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and got whacked. I am an ex-smoker so I know first hand how hard it is to quit and stay quit, but I dont blame anyone but me for starting in the first place. What happened over there was truly catastrophic. They say now that the death toll could reach 170k and thats still just an estimate. That doesnt include the next wave of casualties, which is the ones who will die from disease, mostly children. All of their water and food supplies are completely contaminated and because of the damage to the infrastructure the relief supplies are stacking up at the airports. This is far from over. I consider myself a Christian man and accept the fact that God is sovereign and in control, however when a tragedy of this magnitude happens I wonder why. One of those questions that we will never have answered in this life. I do believe in the power of prayer and we should continue to pray that supplies and needed aid would reach survivors in time
Smoking is legal, tsunamis (Which is a really cool word) is an act of nature. That's like comparing apples to Buicks. That's like saying old age will kill well over 4 million people this year.
I realize that I made a bizarre comparison.........I just thought it was ironoc how a tsunami like this one that happens once in maybe a thousand years and killed so many people.............but so many more people choose to kill themselves each day by smoking cigarettes. I was shocked by how many people die from cigarette smoking each day. :bglasses:
I believe my company will be called up to help in the identification of the victims though DNA. We did World Trade Center also. Not a whole lot of fun.
I'm not knocking the comparison. Its just shocking when it happens all at once, in one place, without choice - that's all. As for the smoking - we lose ~3,000 a month in freeway accidents, and a lot of those (while potentially preventable), aren't things we consider "risky." What I mean is, they aren't all drinking and driving, excessive speed, etc. - most are just accidents. Big C - I have a stupid question. With the World Trade Center you could get DNA samples from different sources. However, some of the areas hit by the tsunami were totally devestated, and some places aren't likely to have had the resources in the first place. How will you be doing this? I'm assuming you can use surviving relatives for samples. I'm just curious.
The bitter fact is that none of us make it out of here alive...... I was told once that "Life is not a dress rehearsal." Live each day like it could be your last, and one day you'll be right. Smoke 'em if you got 'em. :beer Dan
I think that's what they are doing.........but from what I've seen on the news, it looks like they're just burying bodies without making any record but I may be wrong. Right now I think the concern is getting the rotting corpses buried ASAP. What an awful thing..........God is pissed! :bglasses:
When people die from cigarette smoke, car crashes, and heart attacks, it usually does not erase entire communities. Imagine becoming the only survivor of a place where your childhood existed. A place that no longer exists or is now a horrible sight. Now imagine being five years old.
amazing how news travels so fast now I don't know if anyone remembers but on November 13,1970 a cyclone set off a series of giant waves in East Pakistan(now called Bangladesh). The death toll is said to have been at least 500,000 but may have been as much as 800,000. The thing is the rest of the world so wanted to help these people, but information was so scarce that it took months before any real help came to them. Donations couldn't be processed quickly as they are today, and even the goverments of the respective countries couldn't get definite answers on where their help was needed the most. I like to think that the world has always been full of people willing to help others in times of need, and i hope relief will come to these people that much quicker thanks to the information age.
One thing that really bothers me about this disaster, is that a few days later vacationers in the area near this disaster cleaned up a spot on the beach and decided to carry on like nothing happened........I mean, come on.....it may be important to just move on but so soon was just plain disrespectful. Don't they have any compassion for the unfortunate people who died there so horribly? ou:
Heard on the news this morning that the confirmed death toll so far is 155,000, and they may never know the actual numbers as entire villages were swept away. I even know someone from up here that was on vacation down there and we now feel that he and his wife didn't make it either. Small world we live in. What a terrible situation. :shock:
We've got a few friends that are in that area. we haven't heard from one family but the other is allright, the family that we have contacted were supposed to be in sri lanka on the day that it hit but the hotel arrangments didn't go thru. Both of the familys are missionaries
