The earthquake that struck south east Asia early yesterday has provided an ample and heartbreaking reminder of the extraordinary and awesome power of nature.
Somewhere off the coast of Sumatra in western Indonesia, two giant tectonic plates - the Earth's massive building blocks - moved against each other, causing a chain of events that led to wholesale destruction thousands of miles away.
These plates sculpt our world: they create mountain ranges including the Alps and the Andes, as well as ocean chasms, like the 8,400 metre deep Puerto Rico trench in the Atlantic, the evidence that Europe and America are physically moving apart. Yesterday morning, there was movement along the leading edges of two converging plates, the Australian plate and the huge Eurasian plate, spanning the Earth from Iceland to Indonesia.
But when earthquakes occur under the sea, and yesterday's was said by the US Geological Survey to have happened some 25 miles below the seabed, the result is a Tsunami: a tidal wave which, in yesterday's occurrence, was reported to be some 30 feet high and travelling at speeds of up to 300 miles per hour - the stuff of science fiction but made real.
What makes a tragedy such as this the more real is that it happens so close to us. We sit in the safety of our homes, exhausted by the demands of the season, watching on TV as people cling to some corrugated structure which raging flood waters gradually reduce to flotsam - a swirling mass of mud and water, of vehicles, homes, plants, animals ... and people. Surrounded by our own families at this most familial time of the year, we are witnesses once removed to the destruction of other families.
The tragedy underscores also the smallness of the planet upon which we all live. Here is drama on the other side of the world, affecting places that, less than a generation ago, were visited rarely by most Europeans.
Today, however, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and Thailand - all seriously affected - are common destinations for many different types of visitors: families on holiday, individual backpackers, honeymooning couples, business people and, an often unacknowledged group, migrant families and their children making often emotional visits to their former homelands.
The death toll in this awful event is rising and will surely rise further. It will be some time before the full extent of casualties is known from more remote parts. And while we will hear in the coming days many tales of drama and heroism from returning tourists, this is above all a tragedy for the local people of the countries most affected.
Behind the coastal strips of luxury resort hotels there were many flimsy structures, homes to families of modest means. The Government's promise of €1 million compares favourably with the €4 million offered by the European Union as a whole, but we must be willing to give more if needed.