A Neutron Bomb In Reverse

by Patrick Appel

Daniyual Mueenuddin's article on the flooding in Pakistan in yesterday's NYT is well worth a read:

This disaster is not like an earthquake or a tsunami. In the 2005 earthquake in northern Pakistan, 80,000 people died more or less at one blow; whereas the immediate death toll from this flood is likely to be in the low thousands. The loss of property, however, is catastrophic. It is as if a neutron bomb exploded overhead, but instead of killing the people and leaving their...