a feeling like vertigo

What a very unnerving and sad few days. I'm torn with grief at the news of the sudden, unexpected death of a boy of 19, whom I hadn't seen since he was a child. The repercussions through his family and mine, since his sister was my daughter's best friend and frequent visitor to our house.
But I didn't really know him at all, and the parents had moved away and had never been close friends of mine. But the fact that this tragedy has hit them, has hit me too and I can't bear to think of the pain they must be feeling.
It follows a string of local tragedies, a teenager died in a house fire and a mother run over by a truck. Somehow my daughter seems to be the connecting link, all friends of friends, fewer than 6 degrees of separation is too close for me.
A minor earthquake last night - unusual but not unheard of in this part of the world.
Things vanishing mysteriously, without any trace, friends telling stories of robberies and vicious attacks in previously quiet rural areas.
I feel weird, sad, bad and old and wish I could just hibernate until next year, wake up and have everything all right again.