Nature – never a respecter of persons – shrugged her shoulders three times and brought calamity, death and mourning to thousands of homes.

As we go to press, it appears the death toll from the two Sumatran earthquakes – which are tipped to be no more than the curtain-raisers to an even more devastating seismic event – could rise well above the 5000 already forecast.

In Samoa, whole families have been wiped out to the third and the fourth generation.

While we worry about our mortgages, stress out over interest rates and worry about what the GFC will bring, people in these communities have real problems.

Can you imagine how you would even begin to cope if, in the blink of an eye, your street was wiped out, its homes levelled, your neigbours, closest friends and family members killed and your livelihood snatched from you?

It doesn’t bear thinking about.

The events of this week, while on a smaller scale than the Boxing Day tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands in 2004, are a similar grim reminder that there is no certainty in this life.

Even the Earth on which we plant our feet can, from time to time, turn savage and declare war upon us.

Speaking after the great Lisbon earthquake of November 1, 1755, the Portugese chief minister, Marques de Pombal, issued a succinct instruction to his vassals.

Their first duty, he said, was to “bury the dead and to feed the

living”.

These, if you include the provision of medical care, remain the most urgent tasks facing the rescue and aid workers who have been sent to Sumatra and Samoa this week.

You can help with a donation to Caritas or Oxfam – two of the major agencies providing aid to date.