The power of human compassion, in the face of the terrifying power of nature, has reduced the degrees of separation that we usually feel from other parts of the world. Tony Blair raised the Government’s contribution to the tsunami relief effort yesterday to £75 million, acknowledging the unprecedented generosity of the British people who have donated over £100 million. Can this sympathy now be sustained and extended to other parts of the world? The boom in tourism in the Indian Ocean region means that far more of those who have donated to the relief effort will have felt a personal connection with the region than would have been the case 20 years ago. Some have been on holiday there, some have spent some of their happiest times there. Many others will know someone who has been caught up in the tragedy.

The rising death toll means that this disaster will touch more and more people at home before it is over. Some 871 Britons remain unaccounted for, and there have been 135,000 calls to the official emergency call centre. Mr Blair’s announcement that the Queen will attend a memorial service for tsunami victims later this year is welcome and appropriate. The scale of the disaster necessitates remembrance at the highest level.

It may be too much to hope that we are now living in “one moral universe”, as the Chancellor claimed last week. But as more people travel to once remote places, it is possible that they will feel a greater sense of obligation to those destinations, and to the people who live in them. This is another reminder that globalisation, so often bizarrely misrepresented as an evil trend, brings people together. A smaller world brings with it a greater appreciation of other cultures.

Whether charities can sustain this new concern for the plight of others will depend chiefly on whether they can engage the public in the human detail. Fundraisers have long been aware that the businessperson who visits the school or gets letters from the orphanage is much more likely to give again. An executive is also more likely to scrutinise the impact of an investment and expect that it not be squandered. This is not a side issue: nearly half of those who told the Times/ Populus poll that they had not donated to the tsunami cited worries about bureaucracy and corruption.

There are many ways to give people a feeling of connection and accountability. Even the local cricket club, for example, can raise money for its counterpart in Sri Lanka or Tanzania.

Before the tsunami struck, there was no shortage of goodwill — many companies have sophisticated charitable programmes. The Charities Aid Foundation estimates that the British give an average of 1 per cent of net annual salary to charity, which is still only half the average of 2 per cent in the US. Mr Blair said yesterday that the response to the tsunami was “the best illustration of the British character”. In the coming months, scenes of aid workers helping tsunami victims may inspire even greater charity.

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