fett527 said:
I've heard this compared to "the tsunami" before, and I'm sorry, but that's just rediculous. Yes, the damage is horrific. Yes, parts of that area will be uninhabitable for months, maybe even years, if the 120 day pump thing is accurate.
However, this wasn't entirely unexpected - there was enough time for people to evacuate, and it's unfortunate not everyone was able to leave. Unlike the tsunami, which allowed no time for evacuation before it hit.
Also, the tsunami killed 26,000 people (according to CNN). That bears repeating - twenty-six thousand.
Millions of people were displaced. Compare that to the death toll here, which is officially 70 at last count but very likely to rise somewhere into the hundreds. That doesn't make the deaths any less real, or any less pointless, and I don't mean to trivialize. However, the magnitude is so vastly different.
Comparing this to the tsunami that hit Asia is simply rediculous. They're just not on the same magnitude at all, and it bothers me whenever I hear this. The only way they're similar is that they're tragic, and terrible.