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

In this situation, they don’t know how many are dead. The 1800 number is just what was known when it was published. From looking at pictures of collapsed apartment blocks, it seems likely that many tens of thousands are dead. Whole villages might have been wiped out and can’t be reached. We’ll never know an exact number.