While nobody was looking

We do tend to have a short attention span, don't we? For a few weeks it seemed that the entire country, if not the world, was of a single mind and focused on the tsunami victims and survivors. Now the news is dominated, once again, by The Worst President Ever ™'s tasteless inaugural bash and questions of whether we're starting the war with Iran this month, or waiting for a more fashionable time in the spring.

None of that, however, means that the tsunami situation went away. CNN reports today that the death toll in Indonesia has skyrocketed, bringing the grand total for all affected nations to more than 212,000 dead. Tens of thousands remain missing, and by this time are expected to join the previous number. Because of conditions in the area, particularly in less developed regions, it's almost impossible to determine the full scope of the loss.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, speaking before the latest figures were released, told a donor conference in Jakarta the true extent of the catastrophe defied description.

"Perhaps we will never know the exact scale of the human casualties," he said.

Officials have warned that compiling accurate figures for those killed or missing from the tsunami is almost impossible as many people were swept away by the waves into sea, while others were buried under rubble and mud.

We pointed this out before, but it's a good time to bring it up again. It speaks so clearly to our short attention spans and how you can only focus on a tragedy for just so long before you are forced to look away...

"One death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic."
- Joseph Stalin