The Worst Day Ever?

From the Malaysia Star, there's this :

Indonesia is facing the possibility that as many as 400,000 people there died from the devastating earthquake and resulting tsunami on Boxing Day.

“Currently, we have about 50,000 listed as dead but there are so many affected areas that we have not reached yet, where there is no communication and the final count might reach 400,000,” Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Prince Rusdihardjo said.

He said that from the air, they could see the town of Moulabouh in the west of Aceh some 140km from the epicentre (of the earthquake) had been almost 80% decimated.

“There are no buildings standing except for a military building that was on slightly higher land. There are only bodies everywhere, they could not see anyone alive but we hope some managed to get away. The population there is estimated to be 150,000.

“There are probably about 30 islands that are totally or partially submerged,” Rusdihardjo told reporters after receiving cheques totalling RM1mil from the Permodalan Nasional Berhad Group here.

More people have died in man-made disasters, such as the Holocaust, World Wars I and II, the Red Terror, the Cultural Revolution and the Tai-Ping Rebellion.

Many people have died as the result of Earthquakes, Cyclones and Floods.

1976 Earthquake in Tangshan, China. Officially 255,000, probably more.
1970 Cyclone in Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh, 300-500,000
1931 Flood on Yangtse, China, 3-3.7 Million

But if the Ambassador is right - and it's looking likely -, then on no other single day in human history have approximately 500,000 people died.

Worst. Day. Ever.