"People are not defined by tragedy – tragedy is a part of the fabric of life, even appalling disasters like the one that we've experienced.
China's vast mining industry suffers routinely from such appalling disasters, many of them attributed to safety standards that would not pass muster in a more open country.Officially, more than 3,500 workers have been killed in mining accidents so far this year; the true death toll is thought to be much higher.
The other thing I've been thinking about is the disturbingly weird coincidence of the two countries that are most important to me personally being struck in the same year by appalling disasters.
God's faithfulness stands, assuring us that even in the most appalling disaster love will not let us go; but it will not be a safety net that guarantees a happy ending in this world.
Jenkin called it an appalling disaster and he, as financial secretary to the Treasury, promoted two years later to become chief secretary, found himself having to implement public expenditure cuts to curb inflation, the first inklings of what was to become standard Tory policy in coming decades.
The story of what went wrong is told and retold - how Gauguin, the painter he had selected as leader of the new Studio of the South, came to stay, how there were rows, and finally the appalling disaster when Van Gogh threatened his friend with a knife then cut off his own ear.
If some appalling disaster befalls, there's always a way for the rich.
Such a debasement of our currency would inevitably produce incalculable loss, appalling disaster, and National dishonor".
But, she added, "The support on the ground for families who needed help or basic information in the initial hours after this appalling disaster was not good enough".
He was reported to have made a prophetic remark on the evening of the disaster; deploring the way the steamship lines were competing to win passengers with ever-faster vessels, he is said to have commented, "The time will come soon when this trend will be checked by some appalling disaster".
The least it can do is muster a meaningful response to one of the most appalling environmental disasters in American history.
