Large seaquake in Asia: global economy unmoved. Financial markets' calculated indifference to the horror of the tsunami reveals how poor and marginalised are many of the communities that suffered from its devastation. Even in Indonesia, nearest to the epicentre, stock prices barely moved.

The vulnerability of the tsunami's victims is replicated too often across the developing world. In 2005, 10 years from the 2015 target for the United Nations' millennium development goals, the world will take stock of how many of its poorest are being educated, enriched and nourished. The answer will not reassure. Both rich and poor governments have done too little to ensure that the poorest can enjoy the proceeds of growth and globalisation.