Tsunami fallout - UN capacity needed to curb disease

Normally, earthquakes affect a specific area, but the earthquake off Sumatra sent tsunami across five times zones, doing enormous damage to 12 different countries ranging from Thailand in southeast Asia to eastern Africa.

As the death toll mounts daily and looks likely to reach 100,000 lives, we should realise that the aftershock in the form of disease could reverberate around the globe.

People directly affected were not just the local inhabitants in the 12 countries, but people from all continents. There are as many as 24 Irish people still unaccounted for. Sweden has reported 1,500 citizens missing, the Czech Republic almost 400, Finland 200 and both Italy and Germany 100.