There will be time for countries leaders and bureacrats to sit down at a table and discuss tsunami warning systems. There will be time for politics to play out and for human nature to lay blame.
The news will have it’s analysis, the talking heads will pontificate.
Now is not the time.
In a province of Indonesia that has seen civil war for 18 months a truce has been declared as enemy lies dead next to enemy. Areas closed off because of politics are opening up to foreign aid.
There are whole regions that have not been heard from yet.

As of this post, 23 thousand are dead, and relatives, residents, friends and military are looking for thousands still missing even as they dig mass graves to bury the dead in some of the nine countries most affected.
Over a million people are without shelter, clean water and food.
Aftershocks are traumatizing those who were not swept away by waves hitting their shores at 900 kilometers per hour.

How you can help

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via Blogs Canada:The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami

Canada

Canadian Red Cross, at 1-800-418-1111
World Vision, at 1-800-268-5528
UNICEF Canada, at 1-877-955-3111
Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, at 1-888-664-3387
Oxfam Canada, at 1-800-466-9326.
CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency)
The Salvation Army“>The Salvation Army

The Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs hotline for families: 1-800-387-3124

United States

The United Nations group UNICEF said Monday it was sending a team of experts to assess damage and how to mobilize relief to the region.

Mercy Corps, an international coalition of humanitarian agencies based in Portland, Oregon, also said it was accepting financial aid for tsunami victims.

Donations to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are being accepted at its Web site.

Doctors Without Borders said it is getting ready to bring help to the region. Its Web site also has a place to provide donations.

CARE said it also is assessing the situation and is mounting an emergency response.

AmeriCares reports that it is sending relief shipments to Sri Lanka and other areas hit by the tsunamis.

Australia

Consular Emergency Centre in Canberra on 1800 002 214. for families.

CARE Australia. Go to the website or call 1800 020 046.

The Australian Red Cross. 1800 811 700, or post a cheque to GPO Box 9949 in your capital city.

Oxfam; 1800 034 034.

UNICEF; 1300 884 233.

World Vision; 13 32 40.

The United Kingdom

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

World Vision UK

Oxfam UK

Doctors without Borders UK

Salvation Army UK

International

International website of The Salvation Army

CARE

Oxfam

The best way you canprovide immediate help is to give money to your choice of charity, relief agency and disaster team at this time. Agency workers are on the ground, and some have lost family and friends. Money will quickly translate needed resources for trained people to get food, clean water, medicine and shelter to survivors.

Relief workers say that given the scale of the devastation over many remote coastlines, the help is going to be needed. At press time, the death toll was estimated at more than 23,000.

“It was over in less than 20 minutes, but ever since then I have been helping recover bodies - at least 200 just on this beach alone and many are still floating in the lagoon,” says De Lima, who works for CARE International, one of the world’s largest humanitarian organizations, in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka.

While poor countries such as Sri Lanka and India have aid organizations with experience in dealing with floods in the region, many of those workers themselves are personally affected.

“My family and I were returning from church on Sunday [when the tsunami hit],” says Mr. Lima. “When I returned to my house and opened the door, four feet of water came pouring out along with furniture, clothes, telephones etc.”

Although his home phone was washed away, De Lima has managed to restore the phone in his office and is back in business the morning after, along with 38 other CARE workers based in the area.