Tsunamis May Have Killed a Generation

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The seven Papua New Guinea villages destroyed by tidal waves may have lost an entire generation of children, whose small bodies were smashed against the trees, drowned in the lagoon or dragged out to sea as the waves retreated. The number of child fatalities was so high that many schools are not expected to reopen. The official death toll from last Friday's disaster -- caused by earthquakes out at sea -- stands at 1,200, but with thousands still missing and the mangrove swamps and lagoons littered with corpses, authorities fear it may be closer to 3,000. And that may be compounded by the threat of disease as bodies lie unburied in the tropical heat and homeless residents, still in shock, find themselves without adequate food or a safe water supply. The tsunamis followed a yearlong drought in which thousands of people starved to death.