It's been more than 2 weeks since the century's most devastating earthquake and the resulting tsunamis hit Asia and East Africa. It wasn't just a disaster, it was a catastrophy. It was heart breaking to see the numbers go up: from 2,000 when CNN first reported it to the current standing figure of around 165,000. So many lives lost, and a lot of those had no idea, no warning of what was about to strike.

It's ironic that the other day Discovery had this documentary about the U.S. Pacific tsunami early warning system. The program was around 10 years old. It showed how we already have an early warning system in place that using buoys strategically placed in the ocean that can detect and warn land stations of coming tsunamis. To bad it's only there to protect the west coast. To bad the poor Asian countries, the ones most susceptible to these giant waves, didn't have the funds or expertise to put one in place for themselves. Atleast now Sen. Lieberman is proposing a "new" global tsunami warning system... based on the one we've had for years.

Anyway, what happened afterwards with the aid giving is a totally another story. Jan Egeland of the U.N. called countries like the U.S. stingy in giving aid. President Bush called that guy "ill-informed". The NY Times took the other guys side. Besides all politics, I can see that people here are giving. A lot. Just yesterday, I felt good about shopping at ShopRite when the cashier asked me if I wanted to donate anything to the "tsunami". Yes, Americans do care.

For my part, I am doing what I can. Recently, I setup a page at my school portal site for people to donate to different organizations, or even buy stuff off eBay where a part or all of the proceeds go to relief efforts. You can access the page here.

Hopefully an event of this magnitude won't be repeated. And, through all the donations, those suffering will be taken care of well.