Estimates of the death toll vary from 30,000-100,000 casualties, with most news agencies picking the figure of 50,000 casualties on the first day.

To put this figure into some kind of context, that’s:

• 10 times the number of coalition deaths in Iraq from the start of the war to present.
• 17 times the number of people who died in the September 11th attacks in New York.
• 66 times the total number of people killed or injured in the 7/7 London tube bombings.
• Or the death of one person in every three in the City of Oxford (where I live – population ~151,000 living within the district boundary)

This figure is certain to rise as many have been left without shelter, food, water or basic healthcare.

Aid charities and NGOs from around the world are mobilising, and I encourage you to help if you can.

Here are just a few:

1. The British Red Cross
2. Oxfam
3. Medecins Sans Frontieres

Image from the BBC world service.