The Lisbon earthquake of Nov 1, 1755.  somewhere between 30,000-50,000 people were swallowed up then.  As the numbers of victims in Turkey and Syria grow, I am reminded of the fact that disasters of today are not only the result of global warming, and with the aid of the miracles of modern technology they are continuing to rescue survivors a week after the disaster.  I imagine the fire and the tsunami and the earthquake together made for a much more shocking event than the one just witnessed, but they didn’t have smartphones to document it.