There is extreme flooding on the east coast of Australia after a ‘once-in-a-thousand-years’ weather bomb, resulting in buildings, vehicles, roads and bridges being submerged. People climb onto their rooftops and huddle there in groups waiting to be rescued.

It is terrible to see such devastation, but I say to myself that I am safe.

Not long ago, there were violent storms in England with quaint names like Franklin, Eunice and Dudley which damaged buildings, ripped off rooves, uprooted trees and left homes without power.

It is frightening to see this wreckage, but I am relieved to be unaffected.

The eruption of a volcano on the island of La Palma in the Canaries lasted for three months, spewing rivers of molten rock and sending ash plumes containing toxic gases into the air. It destroyed more than a thousand homes, as well as schools, churches, health centres and banana plantations.

It will take years to clean up the land, but it is a long way from me.

The death toll from floods and landslides that swept down on Petropolis in Brazil rose to over a hundred with many buried in mud. Torrents of water and mudslides dragged cars, buses and houses through the streets. Some people were washed away, out of sight.

These overpopulated mountain slopes have houses packed too close, but I am secure.

Putin’s forces attack Ukraine by land, sea and air. There is death and destruction and a humanitarian crisis with many becoming refugees and many more taking up arms to defend their democracy. The UN passes a resolution and sanctions are imposed.

Now I realise that I am not safe, that this tragedy affects me and my family and all of us. It may be happening far away, but the repercussions will rip throughout the world. There is no security now, everything is threatened.