That's what the horrific death toll to this week's tsunami seems. Inconceivable. I can't get my mind around it. But it always seems that way. Many more died in the early 90's in Bangladesh due to severe flooding. A million people died in the Iran-Iraq war. And how many are dying today in the Sudan? One of the very strange things about modern culture is that through the internet, satellites and television, all of humanity's suffering occurs on our very doorstep. It is staggering. But then, the response is that much greater.
Mom and I were watching the news yesterday and they were showing pictures of medical teams from various countries getting ready to travel to the affected regions. And UN griping of stinginess aside, the world community, including the US, has pledged millions already. I'm sure the actual amount spent will stretch into the billions over the course of time. Rightly so. Tim Blair has been keeping up with much of this on his website, along with links to charities where you can send your donations.
Update: I couldn't get the permalink to work so I just linked to Tim Blair's site. Thanks for the heads up about the broken link, Ingrid. And jcwinnie in comments brings up the quick action of doctors without borders. We have one physician here, trained in Sri Lanka, who is leaving on the first for Sri Lanka with clothes, formula, etc. that was collected at our hospital. I wish him and the people of South Asia the best.
There was a quick response from Doctors without Borders.
Posted by: jcwinnie | December 29, 2004 at 09:52 AM
Madhu, the link to Tim Blair's leads to a blank page - maybe the site is busy or something.
Posted by: Ingrid | December 29, 2004 at 04:26 PM