Tsunami disaster - World must meet need for vital funds

As the death toll in South East Asia continued to rise yesterday, the international community began to absorb the extent of what may be the worst natural disaster in recent history and began reacting accordingly.

By late last night, the devastation in human terms from the earthquake and the consequential tsunami spiralled to more than 23,000, yet tragically, this may not reflect its ultimate magnitude.

So far, it cannot be ascertained how many people are missing and their fate is an unknown quantity in relation to what the eventual human cost may be.