# Haiti Earthquake Death Toll
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 14, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955 "2010-01-14T18:18:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Hank\_Beecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Beecher)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/1 "2010-01-14T18:18:37Z")
I am hearing/reading lots of very high numbers reported. From “thousands” to “could be between 45,000-50,000”, to “300,000-400,000”. The last estimate would be 3-4% of the population. This has obviously been devastating, but has it been _that_ devastating?
What are you hearing? What do you think? At this point, how do we know?
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/2 "2010-01-14T18:26:41Z")
[According to the _Miami Herald_](http://www.miamiherald.com/582/story/1424549.html) (which can be expected to take special interest in this story, as so many Haitians live in Miami-Dade County that government publications such as hurricane-evacuation guides are printed in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole), the latest estimate of the Haitian Red Cross is 45,000 to 50,000 dead.
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### Author:  [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/3 "2010-01-14T18:27:47Z")
We don’t know. We probably never will. Guesses will be made, many to suit a particular political agenda.
Personally, based on the amount of devastation, I’ll say the actual number will probably be somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000, But again, we’ll never really know.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/4 "2010-01-14T18:33:41Z")
[The U.S. is committing $100 million in relief aid and sending 5,500 soldiers and Marines to help out.](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100114/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_haiti_earthquake)
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### Author:  [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/5 "2010-01-14T18:54:15Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> [The U.S. is committing $100 million in relief aid and sending 5,500 soldiers and Marines to help out.](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100114/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_haiti_earthquake)
And I can almost guarantee that the Republicans and FOX News are currently formulating their talking points to criticize Obama for taking quick, decisive action here.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/6 "2010-01-14T19:33:37Z")
Rush Limbaugh is on it:
> [@](#):
>
> In the face of utter devastation across Haiti following a huge earthquake, conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh took to the airwaves yesterday to blast President Obama for his response to the crisis.
>
> The disaster enables Mr. Obama to highlight his “compassionate” and “humanitarian” credentials and to “boost his credibility with the black community,” Limbaugh [**said**](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/14/limbaugh-weve-already-don_n_422958.html).
>
> He also decried the White House’s promotion of charitable organizations through which people can contribute to the disaster relief. “We’ve already donated to Haiti,” he said. “It’s called the U.S. income tax.”
I imagine his example for how a president should respond is Bush’s reaction to Katrina; any action might be interpreted as exploiting a disaster for your own purposes, so it is best not to do anything until you see how the political wind is blowing.
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/7 "2010-01-14T20:40:07Z")
The news media always looks for the highest possible numbers. Like in the collapse of the WTC, it was up to 50,000 dead, which was based on the average number of people in the towers each day.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/8 "2010-01-15T02:57:08Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#):
>
> And I can almost guarantee that the Republicans and FOX News are currently formulating their talking points to criticize Obama for taking quick, decisive action here.
[No need for the “almost.”](http://www.thefoxnation.com/haiti-earthquake/2010/01/13/pres-obama-reacts-haiti-earthquake-faster-christmas-bomber)
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/9 "2010-01-15T03:41:24Z")
I’m not calling this subject mundane, but there’s no debate here - it’s better suited for MPSIMS. Moved from Great Debates.
That said, there’s really no way to know how many people are dead and it’s probably going to take a while to get a good idea. There’s little organization there. One senator said 500,000 people might be dead, and I think the prime minister said 100,000 was possible. The Red Cross total might be more realistic. It’s worth noting that Hurricane Katrina occurred in the U.S., and five years later the exact number of dead is not known.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/10 "2010-01-15T03:46:48Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#):
>
> And I can almost guarantee that the Republicans and FOX News are currently formulating their talking points to criticize Obama for taking quick, decisive action here.
Somewhat challenging to see the relevance of this to the OP.
I agree that an accurate toll is unlikely. Affected governments tend to have some control over the figures and tend to want to keep them low.
I knew a guy who was heavily involved in rescue and relief efforts after the 1985 Mexico City earthquake. At one point a couple of weeks after the quake, he was in the office of some tolerably important government official. On the official’s desk was a document that was almost certainly not intended to be seen by outsiders. Reading upside down, he saw: “Death toll to be publicly acknowledged: 10,000 Actual: 28,000.” (Many deaths there were attributable to substandard construction facilitated by bribes, which gave the government good reason to downplay the actual toll.)
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/11 "2010-01-15T04:13:13Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#):
>
> And I can almost guarantee that the Republicans and FOX News are currently formulating their talking points to criticize Obama for taking quick, decisive action here.
This is MPSIMS, not GD or the Pit – pls. leave partisan politics out of it.
Thanks,
twickster, MPSIMS mod
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/12 "2010-01-15T04:23:43Z")
> [@twickster](#):
>
> This is MPSIMS, not GD or the Pit – pls. leave partisan politics out of it.
>
> Thanks,
>
> twickster, MPSIMS mod
When that was posted, it was in GD.
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### Author:  [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2010, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/13 "2010-01-15T04:57:30Z")
> [@twickster](#):
>
> This is MPSIMS, not GD or the Pit – pls. leave partisan politics out of it.
>
> Thanks,
>
> twickster, MPSIMS mod
> [@Fear\_Itself](#):
>
> When that was posted, it was in GD.
Yes, **Twicksie** , ol’ bean. Your admonishment is undeserved. Undeserved, I tells ya!
> [@Xema](#):
>
> Somewhat challenging to see the relevance of this to the OP.
I was responding to the content of the link **BrainGlutton** posted above.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2010, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/14 "2010-01-15T05:08:30Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#):
>
> When that was posted, it was in GD.
Oops – so 'twas. Didn’t see that **Marley** had moved it.
> [@Onomatopoeia](#):
>
> Yes, **Twicksie** , ol’ bean. Your admonishment is undeserved. Undeserved, I tells ya!
And so withdrawn.
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### Author:  [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2010, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/15 "2010-01-15T05:11:53Z")
> [@twickster](#):
>
> And so withdrawn.
Thank you, **Twicksalicious**. You **rule**! …literally 🙂
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/16 "2010-01-18T01:24:25Z")
Getting back to the OP: I just heard on _60 Minutes_ that the death toll is now in excess of 150,000.
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### Author:  [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/17 "2010-01-18T01:27:22Z")
Judging from the video on 60 Minutes, I’d believe it. Piles of bodies…everywhere…as far as the camera could see. Just horrid. I had to change the channel.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/18 "2010-01-19T22:04:01Z")
[Some numbers and estimates from CNN:](http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/19/haiti.earthquake/index.html?hpt=T1)
> [@](#):
>
> Haitian authorities have recorded more than [72,000] deaths since last week’s magnitude 7 earthquake outside Port-au-Prince, the country’s prime minister said Tuesday.
> […]
> Some death toll estimates for the earthquake, which struck just south of Port-au-Prince, range from 100,000 to 150,000 in Port-au-Prince alone.
If that’s all correct, the earlier Red Cross estimate was way too low.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/19 "2010-01-19T22:05:53Z")
[Latest estimate: 200,000 dead.](http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/world/200000-feared-dead-in-quake-82037887.html)
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### Author:  [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haiti-earthquake-death-toll/524955/20 "2010-01-19T22:23:27Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> [Latest estimate: 200,000 dead.](http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/world/200000-feared-dead-in-quake-82037887.html)
That’s just incredible. From the clips I’ve seen, it looks like nearly every building is damaged and many are just flat.
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