The community is trying to make sense of the tragedy.
make sense (out) of (something)
To interpret something in a way that one can understand or that reveals some purpose, reason, etc. It will be a long time before we can begin to make sense of this tragedy.Can you make sense out of these markings? Is it a code, or what?
make ˈsense of something
understand something that is difficult or not very clear: I don’t understand these instructions. Can you make any sense of them?