What matters now is that lives are saved, either from the direct consequences of the two calamities or from the diseases that will surely follow.

Pressure must be kept on the Burmese to open their airports and seaports to international aid and the Chinese must be offered whatever rescue equipment and helicopters they need.

Again it has been proved that natural disasters are the greatest threat to life, killing or endangering well over a million people in a relatively small area.

The 2004 tsunami alerted the international community to the need to mobilise emergency assistance on a massive scale, but always the co-operation of the governments affected is essential. Confident regimes welcome all the help they can get, but repressive military juntas want total control over distribution, so that their power remains absolute.

The hope is that, in the aftermath of the Burmese tragedy, there will be a renewed focus on a country that the world has forgotten, except briefly when there are riots on the streets or protests are mounted on behalf of the democratically-elected, and virtually imprisoned, leader, San Suu Kyi.

Opposition forces can draw strength from the world's concern, but as long as the generals have the army on their side, like Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, their totalitarian reign can continue. The world's media, which is defying the government to report the facts of the disaster, is Burma's most liberating influence.

In the past, the Chinese might have been equally secretive about their tragedy, but the government is well aware that, with the Olympic Games opening in August, the eyes of the world are upon them.

Although they have been quick to reassure visitors that Beijing is far from the epicentre of the earthquake, and that all new buildings can withstand earthquakes, some cancellations by tourists can be expected.

The Olympics were to have established China as a world leader, not only in terms of manufacturing capacity, but as a rival to the USA in its global influence. They want to show that their unique blend of communism and capitalism can be a model for all undeveloped countries, but they need to demonstrate as much openness to the outside world as possible.

The international community desperately wants to help both countries in their efforts to save lives and restore communities. China has opened up, as never before, but the Burmese generals will be judged harshly by the world — and by their own people.