Taiwan is digging out of the worst earthquake to hit the island since 1935. The magnitude 7.6 temblor has claimed more than 2,100 lives, and the death toll is sure to climb as rescuers search for the other 3,000 people thought to be trapped in the rubble. More than 5,000 others are injured; 100,000 have been left homeless.

Although every such tragedy is shattering, the Taiwanese have reasons to be thankful. Despite being rocked by dozens of temblors each year, this is the first big quake in over half a century. Thanks to better enforcement of building codes, the death toll is a fraction of the toll in Turkey after its magnitude 7.4 earthquake last month.

And finally, the Taiwanese, like the Greeks and Turks, may discover that the compassion and sense of shared vulnerability triggered by such catastrophes could help bring former antagonists closer together. The Greek government responded quickly to the Turkish earthquake, dispatching aid and rescue crews, an act that surprised many Turkish people. The gesture was reciprocated days later when Greece was hit by another temblor. While specifics are hard to identify, there has definitely been a change in relations between the two governments: A mutual tragedy has done what politics could not.