In humanitarian terms, it has been a truly terrible week in South Asia. The cyclone in Burma is reported to claimed over 100,000 lives (the real figure may be some way higher), whilst conservative estimates now place the death toll after the earthquake in China’s Sichuan province at 20,000.

These shocking figures give an indication of the scale of the rebuilding task facing two of the world’s most secretive countries and, in a truly global business world, their impact is likely to be felt for some time to come.

Many supply chains now lean so heavily on suppliers based in South Asia that it’s inconceivable that these two tragic events won’t have a serious impact on delivery lead times and production. Intel, for example, has already shut down a chip packaging factory in Chengdu, sending ripples of concern throughout the global PC industry.

"While the current situation is dynamic, we hope to resume operations as soon as possible pending the completion of a seismic assessment of our facilities and restoration of infrastructure in the region," the company said in a statement.

Intel, however, are far from the only company looking nervously East at the current time and, as the increasingly desperate rescue operation continues, the aftershocks are likely to extend well beyond Chinese and Burmese borders.