Speaking to a Vatican Radio audience, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi added the observation that the material assistance now pouring into Asia will be more effective if international leaders take pains to organize and coordinate relief activities.

The sudden tragedy, striking so many people without warning, prompted some deep questioning, the archbishop observed. He reported that many Asian victims were asking: "Why are we suffering so much? Why have we lost almost all our family members?" "Faced with these questions, which confront man with the problem of evil," Christians must respond in solidarity with the victims, Archbishop Tomasi said. He said that the worldwide response to the tragedy has shown "a real global feeling," though which "we join in the suffering of our brothers and sisters who have been hurt so severely." "This is a time that calls for the involvement of all civil society, and all the churches," the Italian prelate continued. In such crises, he added, the Church demonstrates that "the sense of solidarity that inspires Christians is not merely an abstraction."

The archbishop said that the surge of donations to relief funds and humanitarian organizations has caused one new concern, about the need for planning to coordinate the overall effort. It is "essential that we don't have a glut of aid to the same area-- essential to avoid confusion," he said. UN officials are trying to answer that need by setting up committees of relief workers to supervise the humanitarian missions.