The tragic events around the Indian Ocean yesterday were enough to sober even the most festive reveller. The Guardian's South Asia correspondent, John Aglionby filed an audio report on the devastation, while the web is full of good reporting and information on the tragedy (have a look through Google News).
The Times carries a good explanation of some of the geographical reasons that the earthquake proved so devastating, while the International Herald Tribune explains how people sent the news to their families using the web.
Elsewhere, Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble was taken to task by Dare Obasanjo for questioning the lack of blog reports when such a disaster was in progress.
"There's remarkably little blogging going on about the earthquake," wrote Scoble. "It's really disappointing. Citizen Journalism is really failing here. Almost no first-hand reports."
Actually, despite the insensitive timing, it raises an interesting question about how and where weblogs really have the power to work. There has been a lot written about how the first-hand accounting of blogs was a major turning point for citizen journalism in the wake of the attacks on America on September 11, 2001. But here, in the face of a much more immediate and all-encompassing disaster, reporting is left to Big Media organisations: people on the ground aren't blogging because they are either more interested in surviving or don't have the technological ability to get on the web. There's a lesson here about how citizen journalism will find it tough to replace well-funded media.
It's just another reason to remember how lucky those of us not affected by such disaster really are. Those wanting to help could try contributing to the Red Cross' emergency appeal.
