Of course nations with a delivery system like the ones Australia and the US have will be the first responders. The UN will be left with the task of collecting and sending the aid from nations who can't dispatch an aircraft carrier but still want to contribute.

Incidentally, UNICEF has begun to investigate reports of child abduction among the orphaned and dislocated children in South Asia, who are living in makeshift camps all over the stricken region. The fear is that these children will be sold into slavery or prostitution, "inducted" into military groups like the Tamil Tigers, or (the lucky ones) sold to adoption agencies.

Unhappily, UNICEF has a lot of experience with this kind of stuff. Luckily for the children, someone experienced is there. Heaven knows the American and Australian military don't have units to deal with child abduction. But they're delivering supplies, which is their strength. The embassy staffs posting to Diplomad probably aren't talking with the UNICEF people much either; it appears that the UNICEF operatives are too busy trying to find all the camps to be bothered making appointments with embassy staff.

The US and Australia are big. They can act alone if they need to. The UN's job is to provide a voice and a mechanism for those who can't do that. It's not correct to criticize the UN for not being the US or Australia.