There isn't much you can say (that is useful), after disasters. Graham Wood put the tsunami in context with the work of NGO's across the globe. He also managed to put the tsunami in perspective, and this was useful. But in our 24 hour, international-media world, a self-respecting silence is not a part of the script - for some. The ultra right think-tank the Ayn Rand Institute released a news-letter on the 30th December 2005, entitled the 'U.S. Should Not Help Tsunami Victims'. They soon issued a 'clarification', aka an apology, on that piece. See: http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=10728&news_iv_ctrl=1021 Then came the 'mass child abduction' stories of the worst kind. The kind that has no eveidence to support it. Who remembers the 12 year old Swedish boy seperated from his family by the tsunami? Well that report turned out to be rubbish. See: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1054-1428775,00.html Others were worse, like Caspar Henderson's piece 'Tsunami coming for us all'. I wonder if he was thinking about a story synopsis to go with his film treatment. Henderson, like so many on the left - sought to ride the tsunami as a vehicle for his own pet political messages. That message was based mainly on the reactionary anti-humanist and anti-development prejudice that masquerade's as critical thinking. We know that man-made global warming (routinely blamed for most of the world's problems) cannot cause tectonic plates to move about, but that did not stop Henderson twisting the story to fit this particular senario. He warns us that the killer tsunami is coming to get us all, if we don't combat global warming, which basically means cutting back on economic output growth. This disaster was not caused by human activity, the truth is, the areas devastated by the tsunami need more human activity, not less. More human activity will lead to greater economic and social development, only this can help people limit the effects of such disasters. There nothing natural about how much damage a tsunami can cause, but there is a general rule, that the more advanced and wealthier you are, the better protected you will be. The majority of those who perished came from impoverished fishing and farming communities, a sure sign of a backward, underdeveloped economy. Like their ancestors before them, they are dependant on the sea. It is this lack of social and economic development such as well constructed buildings, properly designed, that has left those people exposed to nature. Eco-activists like Henderson claims that the tsunami proves development has gone too far in those parts of the world. So, the tough long road to the future leads back to coral reefs and worse, the mangrove swamp. But the problem is not 'over-development', the problem is that development in those countries have not gone far enough. Finally, the consequenses of the tsunami brought out the best in the human spirit, the spirit of solidarity during times of struggle. It is this spirit that has dragged humanity from the caves (and the mangrove swamps) to something akin to civilisation. It is this spirit that has enabled us to overcome any obsticle that nature puts before us, time and time again.