660+ Dead..

[Raion]

JIMANI, Dominican Republic (AP) -- Dominican soldiers used dogs and shovels to search for flood victims Wednesday while U.S. and Canadian troops hurried to neighboring Haitian towns, trying to assess the full scope of a disaster that has killed more than 660 people and left hundreds missing.

This accident occured due to a river overflowing due to lots of rain. Here were I live (Cotui [http://www.guidesulysse.com/avo/repd...repdom_map.gif]) it rained all of last week and 2 days this week. Just thought this might bring up some discussion..

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2004/WEATHER/05/2....ap/index.html

[bballad]

Damm and I thaught we had it bad wit hproperty damage and roads closed...why wasn't that village evacuated before the river crest got there?

[Raion]

UPDATE: Death toll increased to 900 http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americ...orm/index.html

[Tiger Shark]

bballad:

Serious answer.... Not intended to be a flame or negative comment against you personally, please take it as it is meant.

This isn't America.... They don't have Channel 4's Weather Radar or the Doppler 7000 radar on Channel 7.... and even if they did, they don't all have TV's. Even if they do all have TV's you will find that remote towns and villages supply their own electricity via generators that get turned off at night to keep the cost down.

It's a different world out there past the "left" and "right" coast. Unfortunately, there are too many Americans that don't know that the world doesn't end right there.

Sorry.... Your question kind of proved the point.....

[Tedob1]

this is really a tragedy. i heard it was over a thousand with more rains coming. from what i understand, a big part of the problem is the locals cut the trees down to make charcoal until not enough is left to keep the mud from sliding. in this hemisphere its a shame nothing is done to improve the standard of living.

[Raion]

Tedob1: The main problem with this country (Dominican Republic) is that not only is it very poor but the presidents only steal money from this country (hence why it's so poor). The presidents do nothing for the country.

Tiger: I completly agree with you. We here in Dominican Republic don't even have a good forcasting system. The only one I've seen is from the outside in other words from another country (qwikcast.com). And also Jimani (the place that got flooded) is full of poor haitians who come here to DR in search for a better living and here you don't need any permits to set up a buisness, you can even do it in your own house if you please, so they chop trees and make charcoal and sell it.

If this where to occur during the day there would be more survivors, but it happened at night time while everyone was asleep. The good thing that also surprised me is that they are giving money to the survivours and the people who were left homeless. I hope the best for all the family's of the victims.

[Spyder32]

It's amazing how natural disaster's/cause's can be the major cause of a large number of death's. In this case it was rain and flooding, but like in California where they had the wild fire's and those huge forest fire's that wiped out LARGE area's of land and village's and whatnot. It's sad that these tragedies happen, especially when there's not entirely too much you can do about it.

[Tedob1]

when you say "they" Raion who do you mean

[Spyder32]

I believe he was referring to the poor haitiain's.

[Raion]

"They" as in the goverment

EDIT: Depending on where you mean, quote where it is..