More than 1,000 people are feared dead after Typhoon Durian hit the Philippines:
Official figures showed 450 dead, 507 injured and 599 missing, but Sen. Richard Gordon, head of the local Red Cross, said he believed more than 1,000 died in the thousands of homes that were buried under 1 1/2 meters (5 feet) of volcanic debris, mud and flood waters.
"At this time, no more. I'm sorry," Juan Garcia, mayor of devastated Guinobatan town, said when asked about prospects of survivors being found. "It's almost impossible. They have been buried under sand and boulders. I don't think they can survive. It's impossible for anyone to survive."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/12/04/philippines.typhoon.ap/index.html
As it stands, a national tragedy is reduced to the same level of interest as a trick with toothpicks or an edible postcard. Better to have left it out altogether.