the 2004 tsunami off sumatra killed 228,000 people. more than 87,000 people killed in the 2008 quake of sichuan, china. it caused an estimated $86 billion worth of damage. then in 2005, a massive quake in northern pakistan and india. that killed 79,000 people, and left millions more homeless. when you bear in mind the numbers dead and we are talking 8.8 and right now the death toll 147. >> that is why we are treading so carefully. the number, frankly, seems out of proportion to the damage we've seen and the measurement that scientists have made of the quake that caused all the destruction. 8.8, one of the worst earthquakes ever recorded, and so far casualty figures, dreadful as they are, are still less than 200 compared to the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands we've seen in comparable situations. we are following this story closely. clearly, we haven't gotten to the bottom of what this quake has done. >>> one witness said simply the earth opened up. we'll bring you the latest developments in our continuing coverage of the earthq