I am speechless. Fortunately, none of my relatives were in the area, but several in the medical field are in Bam assisting with the huge number of injured INNOCENT.
-Signed, a rag head
If you are interested in donating, http://www.ifrc.org/
International Federation of the Red Cross (Crescent)
New estimates suggest that fatalities could top 50,000, with over 25,000 bodies recovered thus far. Yowza. Many of the British aid workers are pulling out, given that there doesn’t seem to be much use for paramedics and suchlike anymore. 
And, if anyone’s interested: at last report, American fatalities = 1.
The effects of an earthquake aren’t determined by its magnitude (Richter scale), but by its intensity (Mercalli scale). Intensity can be affected by such things as soil type, ground conditions, distance from the epicenter and so on.
LOL! I can’t speak for ABC but anyone who thinks that the BBC isn’t free of political pressures. The heads of both BBC TV channels are card carrying members of the Labour Party, and isn’t it coincidental that Greg Dyke donated something like £50K before being appointed? The BBC has a significant soft-left, hard statist bent.
There’s a running joke in Toronto about the fire fetish in the news department of WKBW TV in Buffalo.
Almost every local newscast will start off with a fire or three, even if WKBW reporters have to drive down to Erie or Olean to find it. The emphasis on fires gives those from Toronto the impression that Buffalo and the surrounding area is a smoldering ruin. Supposedly, WKBW’s newscasts focus on fires because Buffalo has a strong “fire culture” - there’s an unusually large amount of fanatic, blue-collar volunteer firemen in the 'burbs.
The fires seem to come ahead of much more important news stories. “Two planes hit the World Trade Center, causing it to collapse … but first, Buffalo blaze busters battle a two alarm fire at a home on the East Side.”
To those who think a national media channel in the US is a good idea:
Picture if your tax dollars were going to fund FOX News. This is how us conservatives feel about our tax dollars going towards NPR.
The idea of a national outlet that I am forced to pay for that would certainly be backing a political agenda that I disagree with sickens me. It’s a good thing it will never happen.
Just to bring a British perspective to this love-in about the BBC’s coverage.
If the earthquake had happened on the same day that Bob Monkhouse had died, you may have found out about BBC news values.
And the BBC independent? You’re having a laugh aren’t you?
The cable system serving my hosue carries SCOLA, a channel which shows nightly newscasts from around the world. Poor video quality (probably from using a 20 year old PAL to NTSC converter, and an Atari 800 for graphics), but otherwise quite interesting.
Seems like most newscasts from other countries follow the same format:
About 15 minutes of national news, usually boring coverage of visits between ambassadors, showing lots of mustachioed men shaking hands with each other.
Five minutes of national weather. (Look … it’s 6° everywhere!)
Ten minutes of sports news, usually track & field and soccer.
International coverage? The Asian newscasts seem fascinated on Michael Jackson’s problems, but otherwise there is very little. Usually the big story is a visit by a trade delegation from Moldova, followed by coverage of a visit by the Agriculture Minister to Tajikistan, followed by news of labor negotiations at the Fiat plant in Brnlzljk, film from a civil engineering conference in Pzydzkyl, and then the Iran earthquake. If it’s TV5 from France, before you get to Iran, add the inevitable coverage of some academic conference, and news of yet another trucker’s strike.
For the record, the Mercalli scale is qualitative, not quantitative. It’s primarily used for historic descriptions of earthquakes when more precise means of measurement didn’t exist. It’s certainly possible to estimate an earthquake’s effects based on modern magnitude measurements, although as you say the local effects will be impacted by soil type, depth to bedrock and the like.
Someone asked about how eastern U.S. cities would fare in the event of a quake the same magnitude as the Bam event. While most buildings here are certainly not the mud-brick buildings that dominated the destroyed historic section of Bam, the truth is that most brick buildings (unreinforced masonry) would collapse, and many other low to medium height buildings built more than 30-40 years ago would likely suffer significant damage. I know that NYC and NYS have spent some considerable effort in making sure that bridges are also retrofitted for better quake resistance, but retrofitting is not a perfect solution. Even more modern buildings may not respond as well as anticipated. (Please recall the destruction in Kobe, Japan in 1995 [Mw=6.9], which certainly had strong building codes in place). And just think of all those old gas and water mains yet to be replaced… Make no mistake, we would have significant damage and notable loss of life here too.