Kriston at Begging to Differ has an interesting post up about how relief efforts in Sri Lanka and Indonesia might actually help quell the ongoing civil wars in those countries. On account of catastrophe bringing countries closer together. Let's hope so. He's also got some good thoughts on how the UN could help countries prepare for tragedies like this one.

On a side note, his post didn't seem "blasé" at all, as he feared. As I wrote below, I used to track these disasters for a living, so I'm a bit unfazed by stuff like this, sadly enough. But even if I wasn't, I don't think I'd see any harm in a bit of detached analysis—outside of giving $50 or whatever to the Red Cross (ahem), there's not a whole lot else to do...