The shock of its devastation, reaching all the way to a family camped on a California beach, numbed us. People who lost their homes moved in with more fortunate friends and family. Concern and needed help came from those unaffected.

Like others, the fear stayed with me. There were lingering nightmares. There was a catching of breath at the least little shake resembling an earthquake. There was the constant fear Mother Earth would turn on us again.

In 1971, I was living in the Los Angeles area when a 6.7 earthquake struck. Lives were lost, freeway overpasses collapsed, hospital wings crumbled. A crack spread across the face of the San Fernando Dam, causing 80,000 people to be evacuated. In my apartment, the refrigerator door flew open, food spilled out, dishes fell to the floor, the television crashed from its tabletop setting. From that event, the noise has stayed with me: the earth rumbling, the building twisting, people screaming.

In the wake of Haiti's tragedy, countries around the world are doing what they can to provide aid. Celebrities are donating money by the millions. Teams are flying in to help. A huge military ship off Haiti's shore is providing medical help.

The losses are staggering and the needs great. Big responses mean big relief. But I am mindful that person-to-person, hand-to-hand efforts also have the possibility of impacting lives in positive ways. Take, for instance, this recent example.

My Anchorage friend Kathleen and I had plans to meet at my Ninilchik cabin for a long-overdue visit. It was our Christmas present to each other —an uninterrupted visit to catch up on each other's lives. With great anticipation I had shopped for groceries, picked out movies and was cleaning the cabin, eager for her arrival. Then the phone rang.

"I'm OK," Kathleen said, letting me know immediately something had happened that could have resulted in the opposite.

Just south of Cooper Landing, she had hit an icy spot on the Sterling Highway, lost control of her four-wheel vehicle, gone off the road and, by the time the vehicle stopped moving, she was upside down, suspended from her seatbelt.

The vehicle, we have since found out, was totaled. Kathleen, fortunately, was uninjured.

As she struggled to find a way out of her car, doing her best to keep panic at a distance and focus on what needed doing, another motorist stopped.

The stranger making his way down into the ditch to help Kathleen could have been anyone. Her experience could have become instantly worse. However, the face peering in, the calm voice offering help was Bryan Hawkins, the Homer harbormaster. On their way to Anchorage, Bryan and his wife, Jennifer, happened to come along at just the right time.

Bryan helped Kathleen crawl out of the vehicle's passenger door. He and Jennifer made sure Kathleen was OK. They were with her when the next motorist, an off-duty state trooper, also stopped to offer assistance. Once certain Kathleen was comfortable with them, Brian and Jennifer gave her a ride back to Anchorage, making sure she called me on a cell phone — from their vehicle and as soon as she was safely home —to alert me to her situation and the change of plans.

I missed a weekend with my friend, but I will forever be thankful for the help given by Bryan and Jennifer, the off-duty trooper and others that stopped. It is that side of humanity — the care and compassion that puts others first — that is the reminder needed in these days when so many are desperately needing so much.

Maybe I don't have the million dollars to match Brad and Angelina's gift to Haiti. Maybe I don't have emergency response training or stores of food or gallons of water to send to the devastated area. But, following Bryan and Jennifer's example, there are other things I can do to ease the suffering of others.

A jar collecting donations of all sizes for the Red Cross relief effort in Haiti recently gathered more than $100 in three days at Homer High School. Other containers collect donations at Safeway. A search on the Web for "Haiti relief effort" offers numerous opportunities sponsored by other organizations. Through those efforts, small contributions multiply to equal a bigger response.

At the same time, Bryan and Jennifer's actions stand as a reminder to keep my eyes open to the needs of those close at hand, offering aid wherever it's needed.

McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky.@homernews.com.