Disasters reveal fine spirit

If only these disturbing scenes of natural disasters’ fury were clips from last week or the week before. But no, the hits just keep coming: Brigades of volunteer rescuers continue to claw through the rubble of Mexico City and surrounding towns in desperate hope of stemming the growing death toll of Tuesday’s powerful earthquake. The 7.1-magnitude killer rocked central Mexico just a week after an even bigger one struck to the south and just hours after the capital commemorated the anniversary of the 1985 quake that killed thousands.

As Mexico dealt with the earthshaking fallout of its unpredictable tectonic plates, residents of Puerto Rico and their Caribbean neighbours, still dealing with the aftermath of hurricane Irma, hunkered down in shelters to wait out the 250-km/h winds of hurricane Maria.

As tempting as it is to try to create some overarching narrative out of all this churning of natural violence, scientists remind us of the facts: We are in hurricane season. Mexico is earthquake-prone. Nature is unpredictable.

That’s little solace amid the pileup of hurricane and earthquake devastation, not to mention the record-setting wildfires that raged across western North America.

But the silver lining in this chaos is that time and time again, nature’s wrath is answered by steely human resolve as people rally to help those in need and clean up the damage.

In Mexico, that spirit is fueling the makeshift bucket brigades that pass along not water but boulders and concrete as they seek to find survivors amid scores of collapsed schools and high rises.

Those of us lucky enough to be spared from this summer of destruction can do more than marvel at the responses of courage and resolve. Let us each lend a hand in whatever way we best can.