Your questions are provocative. Sometimes I wonder if the tsunami had happened in some remote, non-touristy place if the response had been the same.

As for poverty, my study "Information Poverty among Nairobi's Slum Dwellers" (featured on Soul Beat last year) found that the urban poor often rely on social networks (social capital) to survive. In many cases, their social networks were much stronger and significant than those of upper-income groups, and often determined their level of "poverty. In other words, they were richer than the rich simply because their human bonds were stronger and led to solidarity unknown among other classes. These bonds were crucial in times of crises and emotional anf financial welfare.

I hope some day to write the ultimate anti-development book, having worked in this business for over 8 years and seen the futility of it all -- and its obsession with disasters and the CNN factor.

Rasna Warah