South-Asian tsunami

Your Jan 8 Editorial1 states that "mortality is an insensitive measure of health risk", but it is a sensitive issue for some. In The Nation, Bangkok's independent English newspaper, on Jan 5, the tsunami-related fatalities in Thailand were reported as 5246 Thai nationals and 90 Burmes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Lancet (British edition) 2005-03, Vol.365 (9463), p.933-933
Main Authors: Yap, Eric PH, Koh, Victor WH, Loh, Jimmy JP, Ng, Yih Yng, Ooi, Eng Eong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Communicable Disease Control
Communicable Diseases - diagnosis
Disasters
Health risks
Human rights
Humans
Indonesia
International Agencies
Migrant workers
Relief Work
Tsunamis
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:Your Jan 8 Editorial1 states that "mortality is an insensitive measure of health risk", but it is a sensitive issue for some. In The Nation, Bangkok's independent English newspaper, on Jan 5, the tsunami-related fatalities in Thailand were reported as 5246 Thai nationals and 90 Burmese nationals. However, in the same newspaper, there was an article entitled "Hundreds of Burmese dead", which was based on information collected from the Human Rights Education Institution of Burma.2 According to the article, more than 500 Burmese migrant workers died and at least 2500 went missing in the tsunami. However, most went unrecorded and unreported in Thailand's official death toll. The Burmese embassy also seemed to be indifferent to these workers, since most of them migrated into Thailand illegally.
ISSN:0140-6736
1474-547X
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)71069-2