Crises bring out the best

The spontaneous help for tsunami-hit was heart-warming, writes Vijay Dutt.

How true is the old saying, it is in times of crises that the best in human beings comes out. The British people, less than sixty million, raised over a billion pounds for the tsunami afflicted in less than a week, reiterating the fact that there is huge regard and concern for human life in this country.

Money is still pouring in and charities and organisations collecting funds have had to appeal for volunteers to handle telephone calls and also help pack clothes and medicines that have been donated. Banks have waived their charges on donations made through credit cards and VAT rules have been relaxed too.

The spontaneity with which people, rich and poor, businesses big and small, reacted to the extreme misery and devastation tsunami caused to people, whom donors here never knew, has shown how small the world has become, how the humans get together to fight the vagaries of nature and, as some said, the wrath of god.