How do they know how many people died so soon after a major disaster?

Question

In Turkey and Syria now they’re saying 1,800 people died already. Is it as simple as counting the bodies and reporting that?

In: 6513

Answer 1

I’d assume it has more to do with their cell phone/ internet activity vs. physical body count. Using cell phone heat maps and their network activity, while considering that a phone is almost always within arms length of its owner, and cross reference that with systemic data/ satellite images and that could be easily used to see possible fatalities.