Indeed, disaster could be called a crash course in Buddhist principles of compassion for all beings, of nonattachment, of abandoning the illusion of one's sense of separateness, of being fully present, of awareness of ephemerality, and of fearlessness or at least aplomb in the face of uncertainty.
-- Rebecca Solnit ("From the Blitz and the Bomb to Vietnam")

Importance: Rebecca Solnit speaks here of the gifts that are unearthed by disaster. She brings to light the paradox of complete destruction and the subsequent finding of joy.

I want to state that the people who died didn't die because of the earthquake; that is a lie. People died because of poor construction, because of fraud, because of the criminal incapacity and the inefficiency of a corrupt government that doesn't give a damn about people living and working in buildings that can collapse. The government knows that many buildings are death traps.
-- Judith Garcia ("Power from Below")

Importance: Judith Garcia lost a husband and two small children in the Mexico...