If Datun Mountain were to one day erupt, would the Taipei region have sufficient time to react? Against the backdrop this speculative scenario, The Disaster Prophecy Agency utilizes the motives of its various characters to probe the meaning of human life and activity. A distinctively Asian type, the humble and gentle protagonist has a gift for human observation, and understands well the art of prevarication. As high-technology and the natural world are pitted against each other, and the disaster unfolds in suspenseful detail, all concerned parties are given space to enter into the fray of public discourse. Building from the foundation of a plausible Taiwanese disaster, this novel can be read as either a retrospective of human folly, or an advance warning for times to come.