Natural disasters

It's a triple whammy of disasters in the region: the tsunami which swamped Samoa and American Samoa, the earthquake which rocked the city of Padang and its hinterland in Sumatra, and the typhoons that washed over the Phillipines.

There's even talk of another earthquake pending in Sumatra - predicted to measure at around 8 on the Richter Scale.

Whenever something like this happens, one is just agog at the loss of human life, the degree of suffering and the extent to which the human spirit can recover from such unmitigated suffering. In Samoa, the 7.30 Report reveals, the people are moving away from the ocean inland and rebuilding their lives there. An interview with a young father aired in that segment - a man who had lost his young son, who told the reporter that his son "is now in the Sky... his body is lost."

He has moved beyond grieving to a sad acceptance.

If we are, ourselves, the very agents responsible for the caretaking of humanity, what can we do. What can we do?