It's not often you see your city falling down in front of your eyes

It's not often you see your city falling down in front of your eyes. People are screaming in pain all around you. Children are running in the streets. Some people start talking about the end of the world. But writing, for me, was as important as taking care of the injured.

On writing immediately after the 2010 earthquake in “Dany Laferrière: a life in books” in The Guardian (2013 Feb 1)