The News Cycle Doesn't Care About The Victims

With all the ways we get news, from our computers and phones to television and radio, we have a front-row seat to tragic events as they are happening.  We saw horrific images of Hurricane Dorian ravaging the Bahamas right as it was happening. Once the storm passed, generous people around the country pitched in by offering to send money and supplies. That’s helpful for the time being, but once the storm gets to the next location, that’s where our attention goes.  The victims from the less recent disasters are quickly forgotten.

You probably don’t talk about Puerto Rico and Hurricane Irma on a regular basis if you weren’t directly affected, yet the victims are far from recovered and still need help. The same goes for Houston and victims of Harvey, the Florida Panhandle and victims of Michael, and the California fire victims in Paradise and Malibu. Imagine how the victims of these disasters must feel as we shift our focus to the next big disaster while their lives are still completely turned upside down. We’ve recently spoken with victims of Hurricane Michael that a year after the storm hit are still a long way from having their homes and their lives back to anything close to normal. Many who were stricken by these disasters have also fallen victim to scammers and crooked contractors profiting off their tragedy. Economic vultures swooping in after the disaster passes to prey on the vulnerable. People who have been victimized are unfortunately prime targets.

Major disasters are happening far too often and, according to climate experts, are getting worse. We, as a society, need to transition from a clean up and rebuild mentality to one where we build houses right the first time around. This means tougher building codes, higher quality workmanship, and smarter choices from all of us as to where we live and how we prepare to live in vulnerable areas.

Do you truly understand the risks of where you live? Have you inventoried all your possessions? Do you have the right amount and type of insurance? Do you have a plan if you had to evacuate? If you are lucky you may check one of these questions off, but you should be able to check off all four.

The sad reality is that once you become a victim you are now in the position of relying on others for help. We live in a country with very generous people that step up to aid in the recovery, but as you move down the disaster timeline so does everyone’s attention. That makes it even more important to do everything you can to avoid being in that position in the first place. Sometimes it’s unavoidable. Many times, however, there are things we could have done better to prepare.

We keep learning time and again we can’t stop Mother Nature. With that in mind, we need to start doing a better job of trying to defend against her.