Each lesson counts

China's worst earthquake for 30 years brought with it a bitter lesson that we must learn even as we carry on with immediate and all-out rescue efforts.

The 7.8-magnitude tremor that rocked southwestern China in mid-afternoon on Monday has devastated a region comprising small cities and towns, leaving more than 12,000 people dead by press time and more missing.

Given the awful power of this seismic disaster, it is not surprising, though sad, that most structures in some of the towns and small cities near its epicenter have been leveled.