# Tokyo Quake Would Kill 4700 - Study



## OhioTodd (Jul 25, 2006)

hkskyline said:


> The spread of disease is a huge concern when an earthquake strikes a major urban centre. The bodies would be decaying underneath the rubble for days and perhaps weeks as rescue workers will not be able to clear the wreckage immediately (they'll likely search by hand first, then after a long while when survivors are not likely to emerge, use machinery to clear the rubble). Hence, there is a likelihood of disease spreading, and unsanitary conditions will make matters much worse.


Actually the concern over disease spreading is a valid one, but not so much from dead bodies. Unless they contaminate the water supply in some unusual or great manner, they really are not that harmful.

Look at Banda Aceh, or more recently, Port au Prince-thousands of bodies decaying in rubble, yet they had little impact on human physical health. Any disease outbreaks happened among the survivors because of...other survivors (like the cholera that was mentioned earlier in this thread). Dead bodies really do not create or spread disease, and the fact of mass numbers of dead bodies as being 'a risk' for the survivors is overblown. Most diseases are spread from the living to the living.

What it is for survivors is really the psychological aspects of mass bodies and putrefaction, etc.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

Dead bodies cause sanitation problems, which in turn breed disease.


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## OhioTodd (Jul 25, 2006)

hkskyline said:


> Dead bodies cause sanitation problems, which in turn breed disease.


No they generally do not. Disease is mostly caused(and spread) by survivors. As long as dead bodies are not piled up in water supplies, the 'threat' from them is greatly exaggerated.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

OhioTodd said:


> No they generally do not. Disease is mostly caused(and spread) by survivors. As long as dead bodies are not piled up in water supplies, the 'threat' from them is greatly exaggerated.


As the bodies decay, they attract bugs and pests which spread disease. Mass decay will also contaminate groundwater, rendering people sick.

Sanitation problems have historically been major reasons of mass plagues throughout history, and the catalysts have included pests, like rats.


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