The advantage (and sometimes disadvantage) of a small island is that everyone knows someone who knows someone else, so whether it is a name or a contact number it is often easy to get the information you need. In true ‘six degrees of separation’ style, it only takes a few emails or phone calls to reach the person concerned or find out what you need to know.

While there are times when this close proximity can be suffocating and intrusive, in moments of emergency such as we are experiencing at the moment, this knack we have for squirreling out information and for networking is a godsend.

The Maltese people who have returned from Libya are proving to be an invaluable source of help to the authorities to track down their fellow countryman, some of whom are still scattered throughout various parts of the country. As happens whenever people of the same nationality find themselves living and working in a foreign country, friendships and acquaintances are often struck up by the sheer fact that you have something in common – being an expatriate. It is these ties which are now being utilised to the full as people share what they know in order to locate those who are still in Libya and to help bring them back home.

We are already hearing incredible stories of how people have managed to contact friends and relatives on behalf of others, to keep them informed of the latest developments and to give them instructions on how best to get out of the country. There have also been stories of selflessness. In one case, a Maltese employer has gone on record as saying that he will not leave Tripoli until all his 150 employees have been evacuated.

Technology has undeniably helped to co-ordinate this daunting evacuation exercise, but at the other end of the technology there are ordinary citizens who are going out of their way to give assistance. This coming together of people for a common cause can only serve to restore our faith in the human spirit. Malta, for all its faults, has risen to the occasion, and while there is often a downside to living on such a small, overcrowded island, in situations like this, maybe we should be grateful that we all know each other.