118,000 and counting...

The confirmed death toll of Sunday's catastrophic tsunami is now over 118,000. This all happened in a matter of minutes with no warning. I personally think the world should grief over this by NOT celebrating the New Year and donating all that money to the poor victims. For each death, tens of people will be greatly impacted and hundreds will mourn. That's a lot of people.

In a recent National Geographic I saw a map of the world with the expected population in 2025. Many cities in Asia, especially in this region, will have more than 10M people. All of India only had 3 cities like that at the turn of the century, but that number will be over 10 by 2025. We've been very lucky so far that natural disasters have not hit these highly dense cities. But given the growth rate, it's just a matter of time before the odds catch up. Maybe this Tsunami will be the start of seeing natural disasters with 6 or even 7 digits death counts.

If the current population growth continues, there will be no standing room on earth by 2600. So something has to give. And sadly, it will be hunger, disease, and natural disasters. Nature has no mercy. After all, 99% of species that ever lived on earth are now extinct. We, humans, are also not helping our own fate.