31-08-2005 15:04									#1
	Baghdad Stampede Kills Hundreds Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

Holy crap.

CNN says:

quote: Stampede in Baghdad: 635 dead At least 635 people killed and 237 injured after Shiite pilgrims stampede while on a bridge near a mosque in northeastern Baghdad, police say. Witnesses said there was panic after screams there was a suicide bomber, with hundreds falling to their deaths in the Tigris River after a railing on the bridge collapsed.

Apparently a few mortars were fired into the crowd and then the rumour about a suicide bomber started spreading.

This is crazy. 5 suicide bombers in the middle of the crowd would've killed less people than this single rumour.

	31-08-2005 15:14									#3
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635
And the rumor was probably a sarcastic joke

	31-08-2005 15:22									#4
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Holy ****.

	31-08-2005 15:42									#5
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Unbelievable

	31-08-2005 16:51									#6
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[troll]Please , don't distract people from the New Orleans thing . They have the time for only one disaster at a time , and only NO matters , because it's in the USA .[/troll]


But more seriously , who here thinks that this will be covered in any real detail for any length of time ? Isn't the US media supposed to be totally centred on comparatively trivial things ( like that missing girl thing ( note that I am not trivialising the New Orleans flood ) ) as long as they're in the USA , and will mostly ignore even very important/large-scale events if they're outside ? I wager this will get some coverage for some time , then the media will return to NeOr , and stay there , sensationalising human suffering until the both the audience and the sufferers get sick of it .

	31-08-2005 16:54									#7
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It's Bush's fault.

	31-08-2005 17:00									#8
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Actually, in a very weird, twisted way, it is.

	31-08-2005 17:01									#9
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Six posts until the first off-topic rant. God I love this place.

	31-08-2005 17:48									#10
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quote: Originally posted by aneeshm [troll]Please , don't distract people from the New Orleans thing . They have the time for only one disaster at a time , and only NO matters , because it's in the USA .[/troll] But more seriously , who here thinks that this will be covered in any real detail for any length of time ? Isn't the US media supposed to be totally centred on comparatively trivial things ( like that missing girl thing ( note that I am not trivialising the New Orleans flood ) ) as long as they're in the USA , and will mostly ignore even very important/large-scale events if they're outside ? I wager this will get some coverage for some time , then the media will return to NeOr , and stay there , sensationalising human suffering until the both the audience and the sufferers get sick of it .

You live in India, and you think the loss of the US's major grain shipping port is trivial? What impact will it have in India when world grain prices increase?

	31-08-2005 17:53									#11
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More money for Indian farmers?

	31-08-2005 17:55									#12
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quote: Originally posted by aneeshm I wager this will get some coverage for some time , then the media will return to NeOr , and stay there , sensationalising human suffering until the both the audience and the sufferers get sick of it .

Nah, from now on, this will get coverage forever. As any other event.

	31-08-2005 17:59									#13
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@BeBro.

	31-08-2005 18:03									#14
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quote: Originally posted by Sandman More money for Indian farmers?

This isnt sugar or cotton, sandy, i think the economics play out differently. It would hurt grain importing nations. Though grain farmers within those nations might stand to benefit.

	31-08-2005 18:13									#15
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I don't think India is a grain importer.

	31-08-2005 18:21									#16
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this sucks

what sucks more is that its not I don't hear about it anywhere on US media...

aren't Muslims always stampeding each other?

does anyone remember my old sig about the Ha'ajj?

	31-08-2005 18:46									#17
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quote: Originally posted by Sandman I don't think India is a grain importer.

You are correct. India is apparently neither an importer nor exporter. It is projected to become an importer as incomes grow, but presumably NO will be dealt with by that time.

Increasing grain prices COULD cause a shift of incomes within India however.

The notion that the this is comparable to the missing girl story, or that US media focus on a disaster which is causing the at least temporary abandonment of a major American city is somehow US navel gazing, is simply absurd.

And if you live outside the USA and dont want to watch US media, you are of course free to watch BBC, or Al jazeera, or whatever.

	31-08-2005 18:55									#18
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wow 15 posts and we're already in to an in-depth discusion on the finer points of the indian grain market :/

	31-08-2005 18:57									#19
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Gotta love poly

	31-08-2005 18:58									#20
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So, is Tigris deep or fast or cold...? If people fell in it unhurt, I'd expect a majority to swim to the shore...?

CNN's site is very terse on the whole story...

	31-08-2005 19:00									#21
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quote: Originally posted by VetLegion So, is Tigris deep or fast or cold...? If people fell in it unhurt, I'd expect a majority to swim to the shore...?

well FOXNews is reporting the people died instantly from hitting the water because that's where Saddam dumped all his chemical weapons

	31-08-2005 19:01									#22
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How high is the bridge anyway?

	31-08-2005 19:02									#23
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30 meters

link: http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast...main/index.html

	31-08-2005 19:04									#24
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from the CNN story:

quote: The attack didn't stop pilgrims from continuing their rituals, marked in part by self-flagellation

	31-08-2005 19:04									#25
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quote: Originally posted by Sava 30 meters link: http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast...main/index.html

ouch!

	31-08-2005 19:18									#26
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Ouch. Survivable though, I think.

	31-08-2005 19:19									#27
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635 people would disagree with you.

	31-08-2005 19:22									#28
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This one is 23 meters and people jump from it every year.



How many people fell in the water, did they all die?

	31-08-2005 19:24									#29
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quote: Originally posted by lord of the mark You live in India, and you think the loss of the US's major grain shipping port is trivial? What impact will it have in India when world grain prices increase?

First - I explicitly said that I am trying not to trivialise the Now Orleans disaster .

Secondly , it will have no domestic impact on the Indian grain market . None . Zilch . Nada . In fact ( though I hate to say it ) , it might be actually benificial to the exporter of food - they'd get better margins . India is an exporter of food . In fact , India could swamp the US market with grain if protectionist policies and subsidies were removed .




But let's not threadjack here . I don't really know what to say about stampedes - the affected people can't be called victims , as , to be a victim , there has to be some entity which is causing the victims' problems . Now what happens when the entity causing the suffering is inflicting it on itself ( as usually happens in stampedes ) ?

	31-08-2005 19:28									#30
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I think they are victims. Who's at fault?

MY preliminary guess, in order of importance:

1. The ones who shot at them with mortar
2. The one who started the rumor
3. The city authority for allowing such large gatherings in dangerous times

And I must say that this is a huge tragedy... it's somewhat disturbing even to discuss it if you stop for a moment and think about the number of dead.