As I have often said, whenever a disaster occurs anywhere in the world, there are relatives grieving in Queens, ... It appears that most of the organizations involved in relief efforts are currently asking for monetary donations.

When in doubt, you bring in relatives. Nepotism is a part of my work.

The world is a disaster, so it's nice to be able to lose yourself in a fun story about things that are beyond our comprehension.

In fact, I suspect that our only hope is disaster. Cruel tho' it is to say it, there has got to be a vast die-off in the human population -- likely including us and our families -- before the survivors find themselves in a world where a new and humble and 'religious' adaptation with nature is possible.
Disaster is not necessary; the better world could be achieved through reason and common sense and a sense of fellowship -- but most of the present human world is dead set against us. Thus I was forced to the disagreeable resolutions (not solutions) which I attempted to sketch out in the novel 'Good News.' The title is of course deliberately ambiguous.

And it's different than the tsunami in Asia, where the disaster was half a world away. This time it's so close to home. It's affecting a place that many of us have visited and are familiar with. Some of us know people who live there or have relatives in the region. It's much harder to separate ourselves from this.

India is one of the most disaster-prone nations in the world.