Many people will feel, as I did, like a voyeur as I watched the horrific sight of the Japanese tsunami unfolding live on satellite TV.

One moment we were spending an ordinary Friday evening with friends, the next we were watching that inexorable wave ploughing homes, vehicles and factories before it – as it was happening.

“You do realise we are watching people die,” said a friend, quietly, and, for all that we hoped that by some miracle that vast area had been evacuated, the sight of cars frantically speeding before the water and people desperately waving sheets from roofs and windows made it sickeningly clear that wasn’t the case.

As a world, we have long been accustomed to seeing footage of scenes of disasters after the event – or a tragedy unexpectedly caught live on film – from the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger to the collapse of the Twin Towers.

But the Japanese tsunami was the first catastrophe of such magnitude, and resulting in so many deaths, that I recall seeing transmitted live so graphically by a news crew that must have known it was being sent to capture mass destruction of life.

It may not have been such a shocking personal intrusion as the decision by NBC last year to screen close up footage of the face of young Olympic luger Nodar Kumaritashvili as his life ebbed away following injuries suffered during training.

But the fact that we cannot see the faces of the victims in the buildings and vehicles being engulfed or swept away should not allow us to ignore the fact that we are watching the very moment of many people’s deaths.

Too many excitable TV announcers across the world have presented the footage in much the same way they might unveil a clip from a Hollywood blockbuster. Internet sites proclaim ‘Japanese tsunami live” in bold red letters with no acknowledgement that this is potentially distressing viewing.

I’m not suggesting such events should not be filmed or that they are anything other than compelling viewing. But the media needs to be aware of its responsibility to deal sensitively and respectfully with such footage. Human tragedy on a massive scale should not be reduced to cinematic spectacle.