Even without a natural disaster, these communities do it tough, as volunteers from the Asha Foundation know.

Much of the developing world still gets by without electricity, clean water on demand, good roads, schools, medical care – all the things we appreciate in a wealthy country such as Australia.

A disaster such as the weekend quake – 7.8 on the Richter scale - is difficult to imagine unless you have been in such a zone.

Moruya-based Asha Foundation president Pauline Gleeson is desperate to know the fate of 180 children from a village reportedly destroyed at the weekend.

The foundation has brought education to children who would otherwise miss out – and the students grasped it with both hands.

As our picture on page 3 shows, they were not learning in a high-tech classroom, bristling with cords, smart boards or laptops.

Yet, learning they were – and we hope they have survived this awful event and will survive the difficult days and weeks that follow.

We hope they will be able to soon return to a school, temporary or otherwise.

In a situation such as this, where so many people are displaced or injured, tragedies continue to unfold long after the initial devastation.

This social upheaval is an aftershock of another kind.

Whatever your charity of choice, the time to donate to relief efforts is now.

Those charities that pour the maximum funds into on-the-ground relief, followed by careful, community-based economic development, have the biggest effect.

Choose wisely, but please choose.