It isn't a quibble but a very important point, those 1,600 needn't have died if there wasn't a panic. It wasn't the accident that caused the deaths but the panicked reaction to it. To raise the death rate have people panic even more.
That was kinda my point. Did not matter how they die. Bigger & scarier destruction can mean more panic, ect... Then there are deaths increasing among the ill & infirm, as the refugee population increases services are spread too thin.