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One of the more unusual stories to emerge from the tsunami crisis was the tale of an Indian helicopter attacked by indigenous Andamanese on Sentinel Island with bows and arrows. And although there were early fears that large numbers of the Andaman’s indigenous population had been wiped out by the tidal waves, many are supposing that they were able to survive by reading the natural signals of tide, water and observing the behaviour of animals…

The image is bizarre, but arresting – the great steel bird of the 21st century confronted by the weapons of a culture that reaches back into the paleaolithic. When speaking about cultures and places far from our own, words like “unspoilt” or phrases like “the world’s last paradise” are to be avoided. However the Andamans and Nicobar Islands must surely be one of the few places in the world where we, with a postcolonial conciousness, can actually try to prevent the worst excesses of encroachment on indigenous peoples….

But amidst the human tragedy and our apparent insignificance against the forces of the universe, let’s remember that just occasionally, us humans can make and do some pretty amazing things (one of them is tabbed web browsing in Firefox) NASA’s two Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity have been crawling around the planet for a year, drilling, taking pictures and generally doing some interplanetary science. Both robots have lasted three times longer than their designed longevity of 90 days. Roll on the launch of Huygens into Titan’s atmosphere !

Holy moley. It’s a funny feeling sitting here in our first true days of summer – and instead of listening to the cricket, we’re learning about one of the greatest natural disasters of modern history.

The sheer scale of this event that has made in impression on me. At the end of 27th December, the confirmed death toll is 23,000 across 9 countries, following the largest earthquake for 40 years (9 on the Richter scale). It makes humanity seem very, very small when people, houses, cars, trees, animals can be obliterated on such a massive scale. Like washing ants down a plughole.

Although this disaster will probably not have great overall historical or geopolitical repercussions, (although the economic impact is already being calculated), it pisses all over September 11th 2001 in terms of size and the number of people directly affected. The fact that the people most hit are among the poorest in the world makes this event even more tragic.

The human side to the event is almost overwhelming. The BBC’s “Have Your Say” has become a heart-rending bulletin board not only for people from around the world to describe their personal experiences of the tsunamis, but to also post queries about missing loved ones and make requests for aid from remote areas.

“ I heard someone who said that she lost 2 (out of 4) of her children. She said that she didn’t know which one to pick up because she couldn’t carry them all.”

“The main requirement in this area is drinking water, medicine, and shelter. Please help.”

“ We are desperate for news of our daughter Charlotte Jones who was on the island of Racha Yai near Phuket when the wave struck. She is 24, 5 foot 6 inches with distinguishing dreadlocks.”