Our condolences go out to the family of little Tashanna Wallace who lost her life when the branch of a huge tree fell on her house, crushing her as she slept in her bed.

We’re sure — despite the speculation in Friday’s Daily Observer that the late five-year-old might have had a premonition of her death — that nobody foresaw the terrible event materialising in the way it did.

Yet there was always the potential.

According to Tashanna’s grandmother, Ms Jurdene Muir, she had asked her neighbour, in whose yard the tree is rooted, to trim the overhanging branches after a branch from it crashed into her house a few years ago.

However, he refused and threatened to sue her or anyone else if they tried to trim it.

In an ideal world, where resources — financial and otherwise — were no object, Ms Muir would have moved on, removing herself and her family from the potential danger that materialised on Wednesday.

However, we suspect that like the many other Jamaicans who are living in precarious positions along the various gully banks and flood-prone areas in this country, Ms Muir’s options were not the broadest.

For that she, or more accurately, her granddaughter, paid a terrible price.

The sad thing about all of this is that too many stories like Tashanna’s are waiting to happen, even as those who are responsible for preventing them fail in their duty.

How many more dangerous trees are waiting to fall on houses like the one in which this little girl once lived, even now?

How many more licensed firearm holders have, like Mr Earl Fray, father of convicted CanJet hijacker Mr Stephen Fray, neglected to lock up their guns in the way prescribed by law?

How many more casualties will we be forced to mourn as a result of what, without passing judgement, must be deemed carelessness on the part of those in charge?

Most developed working environments are governed by safety codes, the object of which are to prevent accidents like the one that took little Tashanna’s life.

The Jamaica Public Service has always placed much emphasis on the need to remove the danger constituted by overgrown trees.

Yet their message, notwithstanding the force with which it has been conveyed, has yet to ring through to those who need it most.

It took nothing less than the cold, unfeeling hand of the grim reaper to bring home the need to trim the tree in order to prevent it from killing someone else.

What a pity.

No doubt, those who knew Tashanna will forever remember Wednesday night as one of the worst in their lives and take extra care not to facilitate a repeat in the future.

We believe that the other families who have lost loved ones in the unstable weather conditions that have been affecting the island since Tuesday will be similarly minded.

Would that the rest of us, who have so far escaped the various tragedies that are lurking in our less-than-perfect situations would take a page from their books before it is too late.