on frogs, fish from the corpse-strewn waterways and plants and herbs from the devastated fields - the writer was only describing the daily diet of a Burmese rice farmer.

In rural parts of the country frogs are a staple food and even a delicacy. So, too, are the lizards, snakes and rats snared in the rice paddies. Coconuts provide essential nutrients.

Self reliance is an unquestioned feature of rural life in Southeast Asia. The villagers who lost their homes and fields in last month's cyclone never expected government help.

When I lived in a remote village near the Thai-Burmese border, I awoke every morning to the alluring smell of what I first took to be grilled bacon. I was disgusted to discover frogs being roasted whole on a backyard grill, but I soon got used to the taste of frog curry.

When disaster struck the

village in 2002, with torrential monsoon rains that swept away homes and much of the local infrastructure, I sat back and waited for official help to arrive - as one does in the West. After several days without water, I asked my Thai wife when we could expect the provincial council to send engineers round to rebuild the village's ruined filtration and storage tanks. She looked blankly at me.

"The village is still organising work gangs," she said. "Each household has to supply one man for one day." So I became a village day labourer.

The West tends to imagine that the developing world has no way of coping with crises other than with the charity handouts we provide. While we think of the people who face disaster in countries like Burma as victims, they're often quite capable of rescuing themselves.