As I awoke today Sky news announced a massive earthquake somewhere in Pakistan, Afghanistan and North India. Clearly this was a big one and as it turned out during the day the epicentre was near Jurm, Badakhshan, Afghanistan and recorded as 7.5 on the Richter scale. It was enough to stop the Metro in New Delhi for fifteen minutes, 1200 miles away, but much more seriously at least 280 people nearer to the source have been killed so far. That number is likely to increase.

With the wonders of modern Internet, when it’s working in North India, we were able to establish within just a few minutes that our friends in Kashmir were safe.