피해현장을 둘러본 유엔 재해조사단 관계자는 22만 명이 희생된 2004년 당시의 인도양 쓰나미 참사와 비슷한 규모의 피해가 발생했다며 인명피해가 크게 늘어날 수 있음을 시사했다.
An official from the U.N. Disaster Investigation Team, who toured the affected sites, said the damage was similar to the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster in 2004, when 220,000 people were killed, suggesting that the number of casualties could increase significantly.