HOW much is enough? Like the length of the proverbial piece of string, the answer can never be precise.

But the £50m put up by our Government in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster is far from enough. Any sum in mere millions is small change to major governments these days. Anything significant is measured in billions.

So far the Iraq war has cost us £6bn. Our foot-and-mouth crisis saw £2bn paid out in compensation to farmers. They would be the first to agree that their plight pales besides that of the millions around the Indian Ocean who have lost loved ones, their homes, and even the environment on which their livelihoods depend.

It beggared belief that our Government initially offered only £15m. It still beggars belief that the Government is doing no more than play catch-up with the public donations. The revised sum is a mere £50m, swiftly outstripped by donations from the public. It has been estimated that reconstruction will cost "at least'' £7.5bn. Almost certainly it will be much more.

The least our Government should be offering is £1bn, the sum that entered my mind straight away. If the Government considers that a penny needs to be added to income tax to fund this aid, with the money rigorously ring-fenced, who would complain? Mind you, there is probably no need to raise income tax. We could leave space, on whose exploration we spend billions, to its own devices for a while. There are more urgent tasks down here.

Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has been trying to make sense of the "intolerable grief and devastation'' left by the tsunami. He writes "The question: 'How can you believe in a God who permits suffering on this scale?' is very much around at the moment.''

Of course it is equally "around'' when just one person suffers - say a child dreadfully neglected and abused. Since God made all creatures it is "around'' when animals suffer. Coincidental with the agony of the tsunami millions it has been "around'' in, for example, the deaths of the Midlands' couple killed in a hit and run accident on New Year's Eve.

Putting the question: "Why do religious believers pray for God's help or healing?'' Dr Williams answers: "If they are honest they don't see prayer as a plea for magical solutions...'' Is that true? I doubt it.

Never mind. Dr Williams asserts that belief in God survives such tests as the tsunami disaster because believers have "learned to see the world and life in the world as a freely given gift...'' They remain bound to their convictions "not for comfort or ease but because they (the convictions) have imposed themselves on the shape of a life and the habits of a heart''.

Is the Archbishop saying that simple habit underpins faith? Not much of a foundation really. On the night of the tsunami disaster the BBC screened a programme about last summer's flood in Boscastle. An early scene showed a clifftop service at Easter in which villagers prayed for God's benevolent protection throughout the year. What dreadful offence caused those prayers to be spurned?

The question was never asked. Of course the afflicted of Boscastle had more pressing matters on hand. As do the survivors of the tsunami. Magnified a few million - or rather billion - times.