More information is becoming apparent about the recent events in Asia, showing that the death toll appears to be over 114,000 people. I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to even comprehend these kind of numbers. The fact that so many people are suffering (well over 10 million will be homeless) is simply awful. It is difficult to put into words the horror and pain those affected must be feeling. On top of that, I find it strange that it wasn’t even ‘region specific’. By that I mean that it is not like, say, the Sudan crisis in that is could have taken place anywhere in the world. It makes you feel so fragile, how something so small can affect people so enormously.

I was watching the news, and saw a story about a man who had lost his wife, and four children in the Tsunami. He said that the only thing keeping him going was the fact that he had three small children to look after. He was a fisherman, and his boat, house and livelyhood had been completely destroyed. Money counts for nothing, there are no shops, people don’t know whether the shop keepers are alive or dead. One thing he mentioned was how the last thing on his mind was to report the deaths of his family members to the authorities, they will never be counted in the statistics. It makes you wonder how many more people are like this, and what the death toll really is.

It’s great to see the response people are having to this disaster though. For example, today Apple’s homepage was dedicated purely to directing visitors to donation websites where they could donate to the victims, and the governments of the countries involved. I think it is great that a company so large and corporate can do something such as that. As you would expect, the Microsoft homepage is as it always is. Not even a small button or link to donate. It’s wrong.

Even as the death toll in Asia continues to rise, the threat of an even greater tragedy looms. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières and the UN are warning that disease outbreaks could kill more people than the tsunamis themselves.But malaria is also a problem we’re learning how to fix. DDT, the chemical usually used to control mosquitoes, has dire health and environmental consequences. But while we’re still a long way off from a malaria vaccine, two other approaches are proving effective.

This is a snippet from a blog I read earlier today. It hits home about giving:

I just made a contribution to the International Response Fund of the American Red Cross. I picked a number, and then I doubled it, thinking of what is needed for relief to Darfur as well.

Thinking about it some more, I realize how stingy I am. I donated less than four times what it cost for the DVD set of the Live Aid concerts, something that I requested on my Christmas list and that I received Christmas Eve. And I’m willing to spend double to quadruple the donation I just made to take Vicki out for New Years Eve and our 9th wedding anniversary.

I just talked it over with Vicki and we chose staying home for New Years Eve, or doing something simple with friends, donating what we would have spent going out to the disaster relief effort instead. And if anyone puts together a benefit event by New Years Eve, I will consider donating to that also.

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