Another blow for Indonesia

Another blow for Indonesia

For those living in Indonesia's northwestern regions it must have felt like a recurring nightmare. While the earthquake that struck in the early hours has apparently caused only a fraction of the devastation of the Boxing Day quake and tsunamis that cost almost 300,000 lives, that is little consolation for those directly affected.

We should not allow the scale of the Boxing Day tragedy to inure us to a new disaster that, on early accounts, has cost at least several hundred lives, and possibly rendered thousands more homeless on the island of Nias, off the north Sumatran coast.

That is why the best thing Western countries can do to prevent another devastation such as on Boxing Day is to encourage economic integration with developing countries -- which means an end to trade barriers -- and to assist them in eradicating the corruption and cronyism that holds many of them back. We will never be able to do anything about the seething and destructive unpredictability of the earth on which we live.

But we can create societies whose cities, buildings and institutions are better equipped to withstand nature's assault. -- The Australian, Sydney