Editorial: People across Northern Ireland will be donating to the earthquake disaster relief

​You only have to look at the picture of the Turkey and Syria earthquake opposite to get a glimpse of the horror of it.

​There can be few more frightening fates than to be trapped in a collapsed building. As we are writing this late on Monday there are perhaps hundreds of people buried alive in such rubble, and as you read this on Tuesday it will be the same.

Quakes in which thousands of people are killed are rare in Europe, and this disaster has happened on the continent’s fringes.

We have many problems in Northern Ireland, economic and social and political, but we are spared many of the natural catastrophes that routinely strike other parts of the world, from mudslides to uncontrolled wild fires to typhoons to tsunamis to volcanoes to floods.

At times like this our generous side fast kicks in and people across the province will be donating to the disaster relief (a letter on this page from the Red Cross explains one way you can do so) and, as we report, in some cases people will be travelling the stricken region.

At home our health challenges were formidable even prior to the wave of industrial disputes, but they are as of nothing compared to those poor parts of Turkey and Syria that have suffered this sudden rupture. Many of the affected areas had been destroyed by war. Even prior to conflict and quake, they had poorly constructed buildings and dysfunctional health care systems.

It has been heartening to see rescue and medical teams flying out to the region from many countries as we all are reminded of our humanitarian priorities.

The world is far safer than it was only decades ago as things such as construction and travel standards get ever better. But as this disaster is a reminder, much of the world still lags far behind western European levels of infrastructure and emergency support.