On the tsunami tragedy, Wong FH proposed a view to explain good vs evil with regards to this disaster. The writer explained that evil must exist so that good can be meaningful, implying that this view can be commonly shared by both believers and non-believers in God.

I do not share his view because I think the tsunami is an unfortunate reality of living on this planet and there is perhaps no need to explain the good or evil of it. Further, I think good should be exercised without having to wait for evil to emerge.

The tsunami was a natural event waiting to happen. The various continental plates are constantly in friction with one another, gathering energy, waiting to shift and producing an earthquake once the pressure is too great.

Melbourne, San Francisco and other populated cities are also very near some of these plates and it is very possible that something forceful might occur. The loss would be unimaginable should big disasters happen.

There is no need to attribute natural disasters to good or evil forces. It is clear from many major creationist religions that this is a fallen world which will end one day. For unbelievers, science has shown that stars can burn out.

It is a matter of time that our own sun burns out and our earth will be gone. This must be a reality for us living on this planet. Even without natural disasters, our bodies have limited life spans and death will befall us.

So before our time on this planet is up, we can choose to count our blessings and live life to the fullest. Instead of waiting for evil to happen so that good can be developed, it is more pragmatic to keep doing good until evil prevents us from doing so.

I would like to refer to Norwani Ahmat's observation that our country is getting hotter with water supply problems soon to occur.

The BBC has documented the combined impact of global dimming and global warming which might increase the global temperature by 10 degrees Celsius by 2100. By 2040, the temperature might increase by four degrees Celsius.

So, on average, I assume that the temperature would go up by about one degree every year in the worst case scenario.

This is a concern for Malaysians because we live at the Equator. Our temperature is about 30-32 degrees on an average afternoon. An increase of four to 10 degrees would make our country uninhabitable.

Many plants would not survive and rivers might dry up turning our surroundings into a desert.

This is a potential disaster on a scale larger than the recent tsunami. Our government should consider this threat seriously.

Asian countries with fast-growing industries such as China and India have been producing much pollutants. The adverse effects of global dimming and warming caused by these countries must be studied.

Malaysia and her neighbours could be victims to irreversible damage caused these pollution.