There is little I could write here that hasn’t been said by others already. The power of Mother Nature and the fragility of the house of cards we call modern civilization are made stark by events like these. The suffering exacerbated by the presumed level of convenience expected day-to-day.
This site at the New York Times web site are amazing in their before and after contrast as well as the similarity to such photos from other natural disasters. To see what I mean click on this link.