The world is watching in trepidation after Turkey and Syria last Monday were hit by a massive earthquake which has cost thousands of lives, injured many more and caused so much infrastructural devastation.

As soon as it happened, and it was immediately clear that the earthquake had left so much destruction, with people still trapped beneath the debris and buildings still crumbling to pieces, most of the rest of the world took quick action to offer their assistance to the two countries involved.

The European Union as a whole, many of its individual members, and a host of other nations started to send people and equipment to help in the rescue operations. The wave of assistance continued with collections of items – food and clothing, most of all – that will be shipped to the areas which are mostly in need. It must be remembered that temperatures are below freezing point in some of the areas that were hit by the quake, and this makes it all the more difficult for rescuers.

Malta is doing its bit too. A team of 32 rescuers and a dog from the Civil Protection Department has been flown to one of the cities that were hit by the quake, and they are giving their contribution. Added to this, clothes and food items are being collected, along with blankets and medicinals, and they will soon be transported to Turkey and Syria too. As has happened so many times, the Maltese are showing that they are always prepared to help.

In a nutshell, the world showed what the value of solidarity is all about. It is not the first occasion that the world reacted quickly to offer assistance to countries which were in distress because of a natural calamity. And so it should be.

It is quite strange to think that, not so far away from the epicentre of Monday’s earthquake, a war is taking place and is soon to reach its first year. Across the Black Sea from Turkey, people continue to die for a different reason, as Russia maintains its operations in Ukraine in a war that has caused so much devastation too and shows no signs of an end.

The difference, in this case, is that the devastation was not caused by nature, but it is purely man-made.

Turkey shares a maritime border with both Ukraine and Russia, on the Black Sea. While, to the south of this large mass of water, people have died as a result of the earthquake and two countries are facing the challenge of rebuilding, to the north two other countries are at war. Huge damage has been caused, thousands have also died or been displaced, all because one country invaded another. Ukraine will need to be rebuilt too.

That is one of the many contradictions that the world we live in offers us. The world already has so much to deal with in terms of natural catastrophes, and man should not be adding on to this.

Solidarity is always much better than a war.