It would have taken centuries to get the population to a stable level. It was pretty lucky.

( right over his head, sheryl. he, of course, agrees with the practicality of her sentiment.

as to the airbending 'incidents'... spirits, don't remind him. )

It was chaos for a while. We're lucky it wasn't firebending. The worst an untrained airbender can do is maybe slam someone into a wall. ( personal experience, maybe? ) Or blow something over. Firebenders would've burned the whole country down.