In the awful
aftermath of the Southeast Asian tsunami,
it’s easy to wonder how a merciful and loving God
could allow such a catastrophe. But comprehending
God’s providence is a challenge even to those among
us burdened with divinity degrees, so here’s a more
practical question to ponder: How does a merciful
and loving humankind stand by while a dozen
comparable catastrophes continue year upon year upon
year?
While the Asian tsunami seized headlines around
the world, a slower, subtle tsunami of poverty and
indifference continued its grim work, stealing away
thousands of lives each ticking second of each
passing day. This “silent tsunami,” as U.N. special
advisor on development Jeffrey D. Sachs calls it, is
a collection of purely preventable unnatural
disasters assailing the world’s poorest people.
If more than 150,000 people snatched away in the
blink of an eye is an unspeakable tragedy, how do we
assess the loss of 150,000 children who die each
month because of malaria? How do we account for the
5 to 7 million children who die each year from
hunger? Where are the telethons for the thousands
who succumb to diarrhea each day because 2.6 billion
people still don’t have access to basic sanitation?
Let’s hope that ours is not a problem of cold
hearts but limited imaginations. Certainly when we
are jolted from our cultural slumber by specific
natural disasters, we do respond generously. The
heart-breaking images out of Thailand, Indonesia,
India, and Sri Lanka in December and January and the
stories of almost unfathomable suffering by parents
and orphaned children provoked an appropriate
outpouring of prayer, sympathy, and financial
support for the survivors.
While individuals in the First World reached
deeply into their pockets, it took a U.N. official’s
description of Western powers as “stingy” to finally
spur their embarrassed governments to do the same.
President Bush and Colin Powell responded to those
comments with predictably outraged denials, but the
rotten truth is that in any honest assessment of the
West’s annual commitment to the war on poverty,
“stingy” is perhaps too kind a word.
Each year the U.S. contributes just 0.15 of 1
percent of its annual gross national product to
relief and development aid. Private donations add
only 0.06 percent more—that’s 21 cents for every
$100 of income generated in America’s $11 trillion
economy each year. That meager commitment actually
makes the U.S. the worst of the West’s
penny-pinchers.
That stinginess is not without its political and
clinical costs. The longer we turn our backs on the
moldering poverty in the not-really-developing
world, the wider our war on terror is likely to
stretch. And as the arrival of HIV, West Nile virus,
and other “exotic” illnesses attest, next week’s
viral outbreak from within the heart of some
darkness is only a plane ride away.
Even the worst effects of disasters like the
tsunami could be mitigated if more resources flowed
into the developing world. First Worlders invest in
stronger dwellings and better infrastructure. That’s
why 98 percent of those killed and affected by
natural disasters come from developing countries.
That figure, according to a
recent report from
Tearfund, a British relief agency, underlines an
underappreciated link between poverty and
vulnerability to disaster.
According to Tearfund’s study, thousands of lives
and millions in relief money could be saved each
year if wealthy nations launched a preemptive strike
on disaster risks in vulnerable communities in the
developing world. If not, the report notes,
“millions of people will never escape the poverty
trap, as with each new [disaster], precious gains
being made in poverty eradication are being swept
away.”
To respond to our world of want, Sachs recommends
that Western donors immediately increase their aid
to at least 0.5 percent of GNP, a goal he calls
“utterly affordable.” As stewards of a great wealth
and terrible power, we can continue to sinfully
squander our riches on the world’s most shockingly
awesome military or we can invest a portion of it in
turning back the tsunami of deprivation and despair
washing across the developing world. We can help
alleviate the worst effects of global poverty, or we
can hunker down in fortress America. The choice—and
the future—is ours to make. 
Kevin Clarke is a senior
editor at U.S. Catholic and managing editor
of online products at Claretian Publications.
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