I'm just back from celebrating the birthday of a friend whose birthday falls today. Instead of presents, she has asked that everyone give the money they would have spent on her to the appeals for victims of the tsunamis and earthquakes in Asia and India. This seems the right way to do things to me. We, who are lucky, can't stop celebrating important festivals and events, but we should find some way to think about those thousands of dead and thousands of missing, as well as the millions who are now suffering unimaginable loss and hardship.

If you can afford it, please give generously.

Disasters Emergency Committee