But sustained compassion is not all that's required if the events of the past few weeks are to mark a turning point. There's also a need to increase public understanding of the issues, to delve beneath the superficial analysis of the tsunami disaster. Only by learning more about the longer-term consequences will the public be in a position to press governments to take the right course of action.
Gaining insight into the needs of the children caught up in the tragedy is just one example of where awareness must increase. The public's reaction to the many thousands of children left orphaned by the tsunami has been compassionate but ill-informed. Adoption agencies have been overwhelmed with calls from people offering to adopt children from the region.
But the images that we have seen on our TV screens are misleading. Many children will have been left without parents but fewer will have no surviving relatives. Until there has been time to reconcile families, it is going to be difficult to judge which children are likely to be unable to return to a family environment.
There is also much ignorance about the process of adopting a child from abroad. No-one in Britain is able to bring a child into this country unless they have been approved as suitable by a British adoption agency.
What's more, the standards that apply to domestic adoption are equally used to determine suitability for inter-country adoption. There is a rigorous assessment process designed to determine whether a family can offer the kind of environment that will be in the best interests of a child.
Some of the countries that have been affected by the tsunami have already suspended all adoptions because of concerns about child abductions. In the meantime it is better for the compassion shown by British families to be directed towards contributing donations, as well as pressing policy makers to re-examine trade rules and debt repayments that threaten the future welfare of these children.
