About 500 people died or are missing in floods in the Philippines at the end of November. Perhaps an average of 3 relatives of each victim were affected to an extent of, say, 2 life-years each. Perhaps thousands more are homeless, affecting them to an extent of, say, 1 life-year each.

Human News aims to devote 1 character to each 40,000 life-years, or 1000 average lives. Thus, this story can have about 25,000 / 40,000 = 1 character.