Tsunami Impacts and Warnings of What Is to Come

The Associated Press places the current death toll at 44,000 and the Guardian/UK over 50,000. Regardless, this now qualifies as the worst natural disaster in human history, and Aid groups are struggling to cope.

One of the best and most detailed graphic collections of the quake and the tsunami that I have found is linked off of the NY Times article A Third of the Dead Are Said to Be Children. The Graphic link is called "Asia's Deadly Waves" and the particular graphic in that set is the "Wave Reach."

There is finally some listings of how people can contribute to the relief effort: How to Help Disaster Victims also CNN

While there is an urge on the part of many to collect food, blankets, clothes, etc., most aid efforts need money. Collecting and transporting the quantity of materials needed would be slow and very expensive. Most of the appeals I have read and heard are asking that people contribute money. They then purchase supplies as close to the disaster areas as possible. This has the dual benefit of them getting what they need and of pumping money back into the damaged areas and economies.

My guess is that they will also be appealing for people with special skills in the near future if they have not done so already.

The scope and scale of this disaster is mind numbing and heart rending. The death toll goes up geometrically, and it is difficult to determine exactly how many are impacted. What is sure is that it will continue to climb, both as more people directly killed by the tsunami are found, and as secondary effects start to play out in the form of disease. It is estimated that one-third of the dead are children. That is likely to increase as they are also likely to get hit hard by the diseases on the way - dysentery, cholera, typhoid, etc.

There is another aspect of this disaster that should be considered, and that is as a harbinger of things to come. Global warming is already spawning disasters. Violent storms, drought, rising sea levels, are already impacting populations across the planet. These will increase, and are increasing. I was startled last night when a representative from the International Red Cross also brought up this issue. The scale and scope of the current disaster, and the struggle to deal with it, is a harbinger of what is to come. We are definitely not prepared either to be warned or meet the challenge, nor to respond to it.

But for right now we need to respond, and respond generously, to the current situation. We live in a very small world. All of us are connected in one way or another to this disaster. Please give what assistance you can in the relief and recovery effort, and encourage your governments to do the same.