22,000 Dead

My Top 3

The situation in Burma has gotten worse. Now, 22,000 people are dead, with 41,000 missing. It is getting grimmers. Also, the death toll could be from 50,000 to has as high as 250,000. Horrible. To make matters worse, the ruling military junta gave no warning about it. It likely contributed to the high death toll. When I saw Nargis I had a bad feeling whereever it makes landfall, many people will be dead. Turns out my fear was right.

Indian Ocean is the least active place for tropical cyclones. However, when they make landfall, they kill a lot of people. In fact the deadliest tropical cyclones have happened in the Indian Ocean. It is due to storm surge, flat lands, and high population density. A deadly mix. Here is a list of deadliest tropical cyclones.
1.Great Bhola Cyclone, Bangladesh1970Bay of Bengal550,000
2.Hooghly River Cyclone, India and Bangladesh1737Bay of Bengal350,000
3.Haiphong Typhoon, Vietnam1881West Pacific300,000
3.Coringa, India1839Bay of Bengal300,000
5.Backerganj Cyclone, Bangladesh1584Bay of Bengal200,000
6.Great Backerganj Cyclone, Bangladesh1876Bay of Bengal200,000
7.Chittagong, Bangladesh1897Bay of Bengal175,000
8.Super Typhoon Nina, China1975West Pacific171,000
9.Cyclone 02B, Bangladesh1991Bay of Bengal140,000
10.Great Bombay Cyclone, India1882Arabian Sea100,000
11.Hakata Bay Typhoon, Japan1281West Pacific65,000
12.Calcutta, India1864Bay of Bengal60,000
13.Swatlow, China1922West Pacific60,000
14.Barisal, Bangladesh1822Bay of Bengal50,000
15.Sunderbans coast, Bangladesh1699Bay of Bengal50,000
16.Bengal Cyclone, Calcutta, India1942Bay of Bengal40,000
17.Canton, China1862West Pacific37,000
18.Backerganj (Barisal), Bangladesh1767Bay of Bengal30,000
19.Barisal, Bangladesh1831Bay of Bengal22,000
20.Great Hurricane, Lesser Antilles Islands1780Atlantic22,000
21.Devi Taluk, SE India1977Bay of Bengal20,000
21.Great Coringa Cyclone, India1789Bay of Bengal20,000

Source-Weather Underground

If the death toll is 50,000 it would be the 14th deadliest tropical cyclone on record. If it is 250,000 dead, it would be fourth deadliest on record. This is the worst disaster since the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami that claimed 300,000 lives. Terrible.

My prayers and thoughts are to the people of Myanmar. They have suffered a lot.