We report the carnage and the feats of emergency services crew.
We report the wrecked homes and the wrecked vehicles and, sometimes, the wrecked bodies.
The next story arrives and the tragedy is often left ... not forgotten, but unresolved.
Imagine our delight, when the Bay Post/Moruya Examiner classifieds team alerted us to a thank-you advertisement from Leila Boreham of Sydney.
Mrs Boreham was in a car crash at the intersection of the Princes Highway and Larrys Mountain Road, just north of Moruya, on December 23.
RELATED CONTENT: Car rolls on highway at Moruya
We contacted Mrs Boreham to see how she was faring.
“I actually only had a dash on my head,” Mrs Boreham said.
“I think the man upstairs was looking after me.”
When Mrs Boreham was taken to hospital, her worries lay elsewhere.
“I was more concerned about my dog, Laddie, than me,” she said.
The silky terrier was travelling in the car with Mrs Boreham.
She inherited Laddie when her sister was killed in an accident last year.
“Laddie was in my sister’s accident as well – he was burnt then.”
During the aftermath of Mrs Boreham’s accident, Laddie was cared for by a Moruya vet until she was released from hospital.
“I was absolutely astounded by the help,” Mrs Boreham said.
It wasn’t only Laddie who felt the love.
Mrs Boreham, a self-confessed tea drinker, soon found herself at the Country Women’s Association tea-room.
Gwenda Pritchett greeted Mrs Boreham at the counter.
“I was wearing what I stood up in; my clothes had blood all over them,” Mrs Boreham said.
Gwenda sat her down with a hot cuppa.
“I decided to order a couple of sandwiches, as I had absolutely nothing after the crash,” Mrs Boreham said.
The CWA put together a small hamper for Mrs Boreham to take away.
“They gave me beautiful sandwiches, plus drinks and some lovely cakes,” she said.
“When I asked how much I owed for it all, they said ‘absolutely nothing’.”
Many other “Moruyans” helped Mrs Boreham after her accident.
Marilyn (Brennan, a nurse at the Moruya District Hospital), offered to have me for Christmas dinner at her house,” Mrs Boreham said.
“She also drove me to the Riverbreeze (Tourist Park) – that’s where I met the manager, Trish (Walter).
“Trish told me to call her at anytime, just in case shock set in, or I felt ill, or anything.”
Indeed, Mrs Boreham said so many people assisted her, she couldn’t fit them all in her thank-you ad.
“It would have ended up costing me thousands,” she said.
As we concluded our chat, Mrs Boreham had a take-home message for all of us.
“That community feeling – it’s alive and well down there at Moruya.”
