Kerre Woodham: Desperate race to save lives after wave

That a dreadful way to end 2004. The world woke to the news this week of a catastrophe of biblical proportions. The earthquake and the subsequent tsunamis in the Indian Ocean certainly shows that while humans can inflict dreadful acts of violence on one another, the forces of nature are indescribably more dreadful. The statistics rattled off by the news agencies defy belief - the biggest earthquake in the world for 40 years, waves metres high, walls of water travelling at hundreds of kilometres an hour, tens of thousands of people dead or missing, millions displaced. And billions of dollars needed to restore even the most basic services for the communities affected.

That this disaster occurred in a region where many of the people are already living in desperate circumstances has only exacerbated the misery. There are precious few good news stories despite the fact that the media has been hunting for them - but this is real life. And in a disaster like this, even the happy endings come with a tragic kicker. The little Swedish boy who was found alone by the roadside in Phuket and taken to hospital for treatment has been reunited with his father, but his mother is still missing, and nobody expects her to be coming home.

Most of the countries affected by this disaster are popular tourist destinations and their economies are heavily dependent on tourist dollars. In Malaysia, nearly 13 per cent of jobs and 15 per cent of GDP are dependent on tourism, and in the Maldives, tourism is pretty much the main source of income. Many of these resort areas, only just getting back to some semblance of normality after the post September 11 tourist slump and the Bali bombing, have been devastated. You'd have to wonder how much more the people can bear. Aid agencies are having a hell of a job reaching those most in need, given that the infrastructure in the areas affected has been wiped out, and as the experts are saying, the death toll will surely rise as the survivors struggle to cope without clean water, shelter, sanitation and food.

It's over the next few months - indeed, the next few years - that our Asian neighbours will need the most help. The orphans, the widows, the homeless and those who have lost their livelihood will be living lives of abject misery in countries that have no welfare support or systems in place. This really is a global responsibility and yet the response to date seems to be lacklustre. The United States has been criticised for not doing enough, and while it seems unfair to be always looking to the United States as the country with bottomless pockets, I suppose people are going to compare the financial aid pledged to the Asian region with the money spent on America's war with Iraq. Still, this is not a time for petty point scoring or apportioning of blame or asking why there was no earthquake warning system set up in the Indian Ocean, as there is in the Pacific. That can all be sorted out later. Right now, there are millions of people in shock, grieving for lost family members and friends, and doing all they can to ensure their survival and the survival of their families. Its going to take years for them to recover and they'll need all the help in the world if they're going to do so.

Some people believe this disaster will unite countries that have been embroiled in civil wars over the past few years but it's hard to see how that can happen. Only the optimists could believe any good will come out of this.