After the Wenchuan, M8, earthquake of May, 12, 2008, the responsible experts believed for 4 days that the death toll was less than 10,000. The estimates of fatalities distributed by email by our expert within 100 minutes was 55,000 ± 30,000, which includes the final toll of about 85,0001 (Wyss et al., 2010). This type of tragic augmentation of earthquake disasters by inadequate first response occurs frequently.
