Dear Sir/Madam, 

There has been so much talk of the "unprecedented" horror of the Boxing Day tsunami, but there are certain aspects of it that I find refreshing and encouraging. 

Why? Because for a change it is not human beings deliberately or stupidly inflicting suffering and death on other human beings, but has an entirely natural and unavoidable cause: an "act of God" rather than an "act of man".

If I had to chose, I'd rather lose a loved one to such an act of God than to a terrorist's bomb, a burglar's knife, a road "accident", or a smoking related disease. 

More than 40,000 EU citizens lose their lives in road "accidents" every single year, sacrifices to our love for (and addiction to) the motor car, while 100's of thousands die from smoking related diseases, in no small measure a result of the tobacco industry having spent billions of dollars encouraging people to smoke.

 A few thousand (European) tsunami victims once every few centuries seems to me insignificant by comparison, and infinitely more acceptable, as an unavoidable "act of God", than as a downright evil, vain or just plain stupid "act of man". 

Roger Hicks

www.spaceship-earth.org