Asia’s Devastation   Tsunami shows that these sudden, devastating waves have mainly in the past occurred in the Pacific Ocean, ringed as it is by volcanoes and earthquake zones. Thanks to one tsunami in 1946 that killed 165 people mainly in Hawaii. On December 26th, the world’s strongest earthquake in 40 years shook the region, with its epicenter under the sea near the northernmost tip of the Indonesian archipelago; there was no established mechanism to pass warnings to the countries around the ocean’s shores. They would have been between 90 and 150 minutes in which to broadcast warnings by radio, television and loudspeaker in the areas most affected, the Indonesian province of Aceh, Sri Lanka and the Indian chain of the Andaman and Niconbar islands, had such warnings been broadcast the many the tens of thousand of lives lost would have been saved. The question of whether there should now be some sort of seismic and even tsunami warning system established for the Indian Ocean is not currently the most urgent one; however, after all, big tsunamis are thankfully extremely rare occurrences. There is no reason in science to believe that they are becoming any more likely, the most urgent questions concern how much humanitarian aid can be mustered by world’s richer countries and how it can be distributed. A whole region struggles to recover from the aftermath of the biggest earthquake seen for 40 years; the region had been shaken by the biggest earthquake the world had been seen since 1964, registering a magnitude of 9.0 its epicenter was under the sea, off the northern tip of Indonesia archipelago. Besides devastating parts of Indonesian Sumatra, the quake set sea surges that reached as far as the coast of Africa, where dozens of Somali fishermen perished, 6, 500 km. from epicenter.  How many died may never be known, across the region, hospitals and mortuaries overflowed, in southern India, the authorities resorted to mass burials as well as cremations also many could die from malaria an dengue fever as well as typhoid and cholera. Assessing the damage, the cost of relief and rehabilitation will run into billings of dollars, Sri Lanka was quick to declare a national emergency and appeal for international help, Thailand’s prime minister has estimated the damage at $510m, or 0.36% of his country’s GDP in 2003. Thai Airways has been badly hit, with cancelled or postponed booking already totaling already totaling nearly $7m.  Insures, at least, will be relieved that most of those whose livelihoods have been destroyed were not covered. Some hoteliers will make claims, as will families of western tourists who were covered by life insurance. However is little consolation to the poor affected, the tsunami battered some well-established tourist destinations where the travel business has brought a degree of prosperity.