Casualty counts from disasters can be imprecise

Initial casualty figures from disasters can be notoriously inaccurate, as is being demonstrated once again as authorities backtrack on the number of fatalities from the Oklahoma tornadoes.

After tornadoes struck Joplin, Mo., in 2011, the list of missing people swelled to 1,500 as family members struggled for days to locate loved ones. The death count in Joplin eventually stood at 161.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York, officials initially believed 5,000 to 7,000 people were missing, said Ellen Borakove, a spokesman for the city medical examiner. The death total ended up at 2,753.

Since tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma on Monday afternoon, the reported death count has varied markedly—from 51 late Monday, to 91 early Tuesday and then declining sharply to 24 some hours later.

That number is likely to fluctuate in coming days, say medical and law-enforcement officials who have dealt with natural disasters and mass casualties.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said at a news conference Tuesday that officials didn't have a firm number of fatalities. "We are working real hard right now to get a more accurate count on the loss of life," she said.

The confusion isn't unusual. The aftermath of a high-casualty disaster, officials said, can be a chaotic scene filled with misinformation, thousands of frantic people, poor communication, blocked roads, hosts of hospitals working in tandem and floods of police and rescuers.



"The fog is thick, and it will be for some time," said Rob Chappel, the coroner in Joplin. "We didn't have any sort of a solid count for at least 48 hours." Added New York's Ms. Borakove: "Originally, you have information from any source you can find. Information is coming from everywhere."

Ms. Fallin said some of the Oklahoma victims had been taken to the state medical examiner's office, but officials also were trying to confirm reports that bodies were taken directly to funeral homes.

In Joplin, Mr. Chappel said, police and emergency personnel sifted through piles of rubble for weeks, looking for remains across miles. Individual remains were put in separate body bags, though some bags later were consolidated when identities were matched up, Mr. Chappel said.

Some remains at first thought to be those of humans proved otherwise after laboratory tests. Cadaver dogs often mistook animal remains, Mr. Chappel said.

For hours after the disasters in Joplin and New York, cellphone networks were overloaded or damaged. People were stranded and unable to reach relatives. That was true Tuesday near Oklahoma City, officials said.

Amid the disruption in Joplin and New York, a host of issues clouded the proper identification of the dead or missing. Calls flooded in to authorities from people reporting missing relatives and friends, but follow-up calls often weren't made after an individual was found.

Someone may report a Bill Johnson missing, while another friend or family member may report a William Johnson. Until it can be determined that these two people don't exist, the individuals are counted separately.

Mr. Chappel, the Joplin coroner, said friends would try to locate people who had moved away months or years ago. Calls inundated authorities' offices from media outlets around the world, leaving officials strapped to communicate.

"We love the press because it helps us get the word out, but the press also can really get in the way of your work," Mr. Chappel said.

Victims were taken to a host of hospitals over a wide area. It often would take hours or days before fatalities were reported, Mr. Chappel said. In New York, officials struggled with a similar handicap as victims were fanned out to hospitals across the city.

Wednesday 22 May 2013

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324102604578497272536297086.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

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No more bodies or survivors likely in the rubble, Oklahoma official says

Officials in Oklahoma City said on Tuesday that 24 bodies were recovered after a devastating tornado tore through Moore, Okla., a sharp decline from the 51 deaths they previously reported.

"We have got good news. The number right now is 24," said Amy Elliott, chief administrative officer at the Oklahoma City Medical Examiner's Office. The prior figure of 51 dead may have included some double-reported casualties, Elliott said.

"There was a lot of chaos," Elliott said.

She cautioned that additional bodies could yet be recovered from the rubble.

All but three of the bodies that have been recovered have been identified and are being returned to their families, Elliott said.

Pre-dawn emergency workers searched feverishly for survivors in the rubble of homes, primary schools and an hospital in an Oklahoma City suburb of Moore.

The 2-mile(3-km) wide tornado tore through town of Moore outside Oklahoma City, trapping victims beneath the rubble as one elementary school took a direct hit and another was destroyed.

Reporters were cleared back from Plaza Towers Elementary School, which sustained a direct hit Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Todd Lamb told CNN. But television pictures showed firefighters from more than a dozen fire departments working under bright spotlights to find survivors.

President Barack Obama declared a major disaster area in Oklahoma, ordering federal aid to supplement state and local efforts in Moore after the deadliest U.S. tornado since one killed 161 people in Joplin, Missouri, two years ago.

The White House said Obama would make a statement on the Oklahoma tornado at 11 a.m. It said the president was brieved overnight on the tornado tragedy.

There was an outpouring of grief on Plaza Towers' Facebook page, with messages from around the country including one pleading simply: "Please find those little children."

A separate Facebook page set up to reunite people in the area hit by a tornado on Sunday with their belongings and pets also showed entries for Moore residents overnight.

Another elementary school, homes and a hospital were among the buildings leveled in Moore, leaving residents of the town of about 50,000 people stunned at the devastation and loss of life. Many residents were left without power and water.

The National Weather Service assigned the twister a preliminary ranking of EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, meaning the second most powerful category of tornado with winds up to 200 mph.

Witnesses said Monday's tornado appeared more fierce than the giant twister that was among the dozens that tore up the area on May 3, 1999, killing more than 40 people and destroying thousands of homes. That tornado ranked as an EF5, meaning it had winds over 200 mph.

The 1999 event in Oklahoma ranks as the third-costliest tornado in U.S. history, having caused more than $1 billion in damage at the time, or more than $1.3 billion in today's dollars. Only the devastating Joplin and Tuscaloosa tornadoes in 2011 were more costly.

"I am close to the families of all who died in the Oklahoma tornado, especially those who lost young children. Join me in praying for them," Pope Francis said in a Twitter message.

Jeff Alger, 34, who works in the Kansas oil fields on a fracking crew, said his wife Sophia took their children out of school when she heard a tornado was coming and then fled Moore and watched it flatten the town from a few miles away.

"They didn't even have time to grab their shoes," said Alger, who has five children aged four to 11. The storm tore part of the roof off of his home. He was with his wife at Norman Regional Hospital to have glass and other debris removed from his wife's bare feet.

Moore was devastated with debris everywhere, street signs gone, lights out, houses destroyed and vehicles tossed about as if they were toys.

The dangerous storm system threatened several southern Plains states with more twisters. The area around Moore faces the risk of severe thunderstorms on Tuesday, which could hamper rescue efforts.

Speaking outside Norman Regional HospitalNinia Lay, 48, said she huddled in a closet through two storm alerts and the tornado hit on the third.

"I was hiding in the closet and I heard something like a train coming," she said under skies still flashing with lightning. The house was flattened and Lay was buried in the rubble for two hours until her husband Kevin, 50, and rescuers dug her out.

"I thank God for my cell phone, I called me husband for help."

Her daughter Catherine, seven, a first-grader at Plaza Towers Elementary School, took shelter with classmates and teachers in a bathroom when the tornado hit and destroyed the school. She escaped with scrapes and cuts.

The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center provided the town with a warning 16 minutes before the tornado touched down at 3:01 p.m. (2001 GMT), which is greater than the average eight to 10 minutes of warning, said Keli Pirtle, a spokeswoman for the center in Norman, Oklahoma.

The notice was upgraded to emergency warning with "heightened language" at 2:56 p.m., or five minutes before the tornado touched down, Pirtle said.

Television media measured the tornado at more than 2 miles wide, with images showing entire neighborhoods flattened.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed a temporary flight restriction that allowed only relief aircraft in the area, saying it was at the request of police who needed quiet to search for buried survivors.

Oklahoma activated the National Guard, and the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency activated teams to support recovery operations and coordinate responses for multiple agencies.

Briarwood Elementary School, which also stood in the storm's path, was all but destroyed. On the first floor, sections of walls had been peeled away, giving clear views into the building; while in other areas, cars hurled by the storm winds were lodged in the walls.

The number of injured as reported by several hospitals rose rapidly throughout the afternoon.

"The whole city looks like a debris field," Glenn Lewis, the mayor of Moore, told NBC.

"It looks like we have lost our hospital. I drove by there a while ago and it's pretty much destroyed," Lewis said.

The massive twister struck at the height of tornado season, and more were forecast. On Sunday, tornadoes killed two people and injured 39 in Oklahoma.

Wednesday 22 May 2013

http://www.jsonline.com/news/usandworld/oklahoma-death-toll-downgraded-to-24-double-counting-cited-b9915332z1.html

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Human parts on sale in Nigeria

Emotions ran high, Tuesday, at Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja, following startling revelations by suspected members of three syndicates, who specialised in selling human parts to herbalists and persons suspected to be clerics. The suspects told a bewildered crowd that human heads were sold for N8,000; hands, N4,000 and private parts N10,000.

One of them, Agboola Kolawole, who blamed his indulgence on poverty and inability to pay his children’s school fees, disclosed that he had so far sold four heads of his deceased siblings to a herbalist, who in turn sold to some persons they identified simply as Alhajis.

The Alhajis, as gathered, offered to pay one of the suspects N40,000 to get a live human being, only for the suspect, Sanni Kazeem, to be apprehended during his search for prey.

Recovered from one of the arrested herbalists, identified as Ajibade Rafiu (40), who the suspects said they supply with the human parts, was a dried human finger suspected to be that of a lady, and a concoction, which he said was made from grounded human head mixed with local gin.

The concoction, according to Rafiu, was to fortify him against spiritual attacks.

Their arrest, according to the Command’s spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, followed a tip-off from the officer-in-charge of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja, Abba Kyari, that one of the suspects, Jamiu Adeleke, was at the verge of selling a human hand for N21,000.

The operatives, according to Braide, who paraded the suspects before newsmen, stormed Owode town, Ogun State, where Adeleke was arrested while attempting to sell the human hand to a buyer.

She said: “Adeleke confessed that one Sanni Kazeem sold it to him for N6,000. When Sanni was arrested, he also confessed to the crime, adding that he had supplied two human heads to a dealer named Akinwowo Fatai (30), who was also arrested.

Akinwowo, on his part, confessed to have received the human heads and another four human heads from another supplier, one Agboola Kolawole (40), who was later arrested in the same Owode town.”

“Kolawole confessed that he cut the heads of his two late brothers and two late sisters buried in private graves in their compound and sold them for N8,000 each. The final buyer/receiver, one Ajibade Rafiu (30), a herbalist, was also arrested.

“During interrogation, the suppliers said they got their human parts from various grave yards in Ogun State, while the middlemen doubled the prices and sell to the herbalist, who is the end user.

“Sanni Kazeem also confessed that two popular Alhajis in the same Owode town had bought one head from him before and also requested for a live human being for N40,000.”

She added that the first suspect arrested, Adeleke, jumped out of a moving vehicle in his attempt to escape and sustained fatal injuries, which later resulted in his death, adding that effort was still on to arrest others indicted in the business.

One of the suspects, Agboola Kolawole, said: “Yes, I sold my dead siblings' parts for N8,000 each. I was tempted to do that because of poverty and inability to pay my children’s school fees.

“Just as I was thinking of how to pay their school fees, a friend approached me and asked why I should be suffering when there was a way out. When I asked how, he said I should go and get some human parts that he would pay me.

“That was how I went to my late brother’s grave at night, exhumed the bodies of two of them and cut off the heads.

“When I took them to the friend, he gave me N16,000 and told me to get him four hands. This time around, I went to my late sisters graves and cut off their hands. I was paid N8,000 for a set of hands.

” Kazeem Sanni said he usually went to cemeteries to exhume dead bodies and cut off the needed parts.

He said: “The cemetery I usually frequent is CMS. I usually go there at night when the guards are asleep.

“I sell skull for N8,000 to Alpha Jamiu (Muslim cleric). So far, I have gone to the cemetery thrice to cut off human parts.

“Two weeks ago, he called to say that his clients needed a human being, promising to pay me N40,000. When I asked him how that was possible, he said he would give me a charm that would hypnotise the victim to facilitate his/her abduction.

“I told him I would think about it. But I never went back to him again because I felt I could not do that.”

However, it was gathered that Alpha Jamiu, the middleman, pays the supplier N8,000 but sells the parts thrice the amount to end users.

The herbalist, Ajibade Rafiu, told journalists that he bought a human head for N8,000, with an intention to prepare a fortification concoction for himself.

He said: “I burnt the human head and later ground it, poured it inside a plastic and added local gin and other roots. I prepared the concoction for myself.

“It is to fortify me against any attack because in this job if you are not fortified people may attempt to throw spiritual arrows at you. But with this, if anybody tries it, it will backfire.”

Wednesday 22 May 2013

http://world.myjoyonline.com/pages/nigeria/201305/106449.php

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All 28 bodies recovered from Indonesian mine

Rescuers have recovered all 28 bodies from a collapsed underground room inside the giant U.S.-owned gold and copper mine in Indonesia's province of Papua.

Thirty-eight workers were undergoing safety training inside the Big Gossan facility when the roof collapsed May 14. Ten injured miners were rescued.

A statement from the mine operator PT Freeport Indonesia said its Emergency Response Team recovered and identified the last victim early Wednesday.

Mining operations at the Grasberg mine have been suspended since the accident to respect the victims and concentrate on the recovery effort. The mine owned by Phoenix, Arizona-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. employs more than 20,000 workers.

Wednesday 22 May 2013

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/28-bodies-recovered-indonesian-mine-room-19229765

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Bangladesh: Red Crescent with the victims of Savar tragedy

On 24 April 2013, an eight-storey building collapsed in Savar, an industrial suburb located on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka. More than 3,000 people were working in factories and shops housed inside the building when it caved in. Volunteers and staff from the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) rushed to the spot and established a mobile first aid camp to assist the wounded.

The Red Crescent volunteers worked alongside other first responders in the search & rescue operation, and helped with the management of dead bodies. Red Crescent ambulances transported the injured survivors to various hospitals. While 1,127 bodies were recovered from the wreckage, 2,438 people were rescued alive.

The ICRC delegation in Dhaka supported the Red Crescent with 1160 body bags, 20 helmets and pairs of gloves as well as mobile phones to help survivors to give news to their families.

Friends and families of missing workers sought news of their loved ones at the Red Crescent camp in Savar. Volunteers visited the hospitals where the injured were being treated to give them the chance to inform their family of their condition and whereabouts. Over the three weeks of the rescue operation, the Red Crescent met with family members of 457 missing workers, recorded their personal details and tried to locate their relatives among the injured and dead. Up to 16 May, more than 70 people had been located, the living reunited with their loved ones and the deceased handed over to families for burial.

Throughout the entire operation, 205 trained volunteers of Bangladesh Red Crescent worked round the clock in two shifts. While some of them were involved in searching for people trapped in the collapsed building, others provided First Aid to the wounded, while others made efforts to reunite separated family members.

Youths from the Red Crescent cut through piles of steel, iron and concrete to find people buried underneath.

Since the onset of the disaster, the Red Crescent makeshift camp in Savar provided first aid not only to the injured survivors, but also to other first responders.

Dignified and proper management of the dead in disasters is fundamental in helping families know the fate of their relatives and mourn their dead. A team of Red Crescent volunteers supported the rescuers in carrying the deceased. For identification purposes, physical features and personal belongings were noted down before the bodies were placed inside body bags supplied by the ICRC. 293 bodies still remain unidentified, of which 187 have been tested for DNA.

Wednesday 22 May 2012

http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/photo-gallery/2013/05-21-bangladesh-savar-tragedy.htm

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