BMJ  2005;330 (8 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7482.0-f

Editor's choice

Death by tsunami and poverty

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Fishermen in the Indian Ocean were unaware of the wave that swept past them and devastated their homes and families. How many of us are unaware that over a million people died in the 1970s after a cyclone struck Bangladesh and an earthquake shook China? What, then, makes this tsunami disaster so potent—beyond unprecedented television and newspaper coverage—that the United Nations will have launched a flash appeal by the time you read this week's BMJ?

A wave that killed on two continents is a stark reminder that the many divisions within and between nations are insignificant when compared with the challenge posed by nature. Increasingly, too, we live in an interconnected and interdependent world. Strengthening infrastructure and the potential for medical response in poorer countries garners moral support among people in rich countries and also helps all citizens of our world. Among the dead or missing after this Asian . . . [Full text of this article]

Kamran Abbasi, acting editor

(kabbasi@bmj.com)


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Disease threatens millions in wake of tsunami
Peter Moszynski
BMJ 2005 330: 59. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Charities and rock stars join forces to tackle world poverty
Lynn Eaton
BMJ 2005 330: 59. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

India refuses global aid for tsunami Victims
Umesh Kapil
bmj.com, 7 Jan 2005 [Full text]
Support for people returning from affected areas
Trisha Greenhalgh
bmj.com, 8 Jan 2005 [Full text]
Can we believe Mr. Tony Blair ?
Dr. Vaishali Mona Verma
bmj.com, 8 Jan 2005 [Full text]
In what way does poverty affect disaster?
Madhu Chittarvu
bmj.com, 10 Jan 2005 [Full text]
Challenges for Africa
Lauraine M Vivian
bmj.com, 10 Jan 2005 [Full text]
Re: In what way does poverty affect disaster?
Nicholas Bennett
bmj.com, 11 Jan 2005 [Full text]
Re: Support for people returning from affected areas
Bjarte Stubhaug
bmj.com, 11 Jan 2005 [Full text]
should we depend totally on others? it's time to introinspect
Vineet Gupta
bmj.com, 14 Jan 2005 [Full text]
The tsunami, Beslan and "disaster mental health" : lessons from Aberfan
derek a summerfield
bmj.com, 14 Jan 2005 [Full text]
Tsunami and the poor: Some short-term and long-term implications
K.R Nayar, et al.
bmj.com, 15 Jan 2005 [Full text]
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ