Hurricane Preparedness and Media Coverge

Why the media is important in hurricane preparedness

Meteorology is like most sciences also part art. We can not tell exactly how many hurricane storms there will be. What we do need to remember is that such storms CAN occur and can pose a serious affect on the land and those that live within the storm’s path.

The only way to deal with hurricanes is to prepare for hurricanes.

My concern is that there has been a major change in attitude concerning hurricanes 2008 hurricane season.

Compare the coverage of how disasters were discussed in the media over the past say even 10 year and how they were covered this year. The intensity of coverage was very high for several storms such as Tropical Storm Hanna and Hurricane Gustuv before, during and after. There was more coverage of these storms that Hurricane Ike especially in the post hurricane storm disaster recovery process. There are approximately 300 persons still missing from Ike and the ruination of so many communities along Galveston coastal area is astronomical. Yet the amount of attention to that situation is a drop in the bucket compared to that of Hurricane Katrina.

It is not just hurricanes that are lacking in public interest. On the west coast wildfires are not getting the same amount of media attention as they were just a year ago. If we track the amount of media coverage it is most like less than 40-60% of former years.

Yes on can make the point that the media coverage is sensational and emotionally manipulating. Some media have gone to the emotional component to heighten ratings.

Yet the media coverage of the after affects IS VERY IMPORTANT in that it does three very significant teachings.

1- Highlights the needs of the disaster victims. For the general population, many shy away from the needs of those in pain and suffering. By keeping the awareness focused on the long term needs of a disaster recovery situation

2- Provides intense education on the needs for disaster preparation. Many will consider their own personal preparedness responsibilities and begin to better prepare for a potential disaster. The more people that are prepared for a hurricane the more likely they will survive and recover from a disaster quickly and in better physical, emotional and financial shape. With less media coverage there is less public hurricane preparation and recovery education that reaches the general population.

3- Sustains awareness for philanthropic generosity. Without the media coverage the hurricane storm the awareness for needs of the charitable organizations wane considerably and thus the amount of disaster aid that can be offered is often much less. When this occurs it is often the tax payers that foot much more of the recovery bill with longer term dependence on local and federal assistance programs such as medical assistance, food distribution, housing supplements etc.

There needs to be a balance between responsible and educational media coverage and that of sensationalism that is abusive to both the general public and disaster victims.

We are now past the two significant historical points in hurricane stats for the year however it doesn’t seem that nature got the memo on that particular issue. For thousands of individuals it looks like they will be strongly affected by 2008 hurricanes for still the near future.

Please find below an interesting article from the Palm Beach Post on Hurricane Omar. Some historical facts are very interesting especially when considered in light of media coverage

Omar ties 2008 for 8th all-time in tropical storms

By Charles Elmore | Tuesday, October 14, 2008, 01:14 PM

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/storm/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/stormblog/

Omar became the season’s 15th named storm at 11 a.m., tying 2008 for 8th place in the most Atlantic tropical storms in recorded history. The storm threatens Puerto Rico by Wednesday with winds of 70 mph, and is projected to become a Category 1 hurricane that moves northeast, away from Florida.

Tropical Depression 16 off Honduras could well become Tropical Storm Paloma tonight or Wednesday, according to a 2 p.m. advisory. That would bump the season into a tie for sixth place with 2003 and 1936 in tropical storms (the ones that get human names).

“There’s every indication that it will,” National Hurricane Center spokesman and forecaster Dennis Feltgen said of TD 16’s likelihood to reach tropical-storm status. He said the storm counts and yearly rankings cited above were consistent with the agency’s records.

The leader remains 2005 with 28 tropical storms. In contrast, there were only four tropical storms in 1983.

TD 16 is expected to pour 4 to 8 inches of rain over parts of Nicaragua and Honduras, with up to 15 inches possible in places. Its forecast track eventually takes it inland to central America.

“These rainfall amounts could produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides,” an NHC advisory warned.

Scientists continue to debate the reasons for the high number of storms, and there’s no neat and tidy consensus on the role of global warming with regard to hurricanes. Warm water does seem to feed storms, but some long-term models that plug in rising water temperatures have suggested the frequency of hurricanes may actually decrease over time because of wind shear and other factors, though surviving storms could be stronger. One camp of scientists holds 25- to 40-year natural cycles explain what we’re seeing, and global warming does not play a decisive role.

Also, bear in mind that technology is better now than it was back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and forecasters are better able to detect tropical storms that may form and fizzle before threatening land. That makes storm counts go up.

For example, Tropical Depression Nana far out in the Alantic has dissipated, falling off the NHC’s map. A little companion blob (circled in yellow) retains a low chance of forming a tropical cyclone.

Hurricane Ike’s Affects still hurt

Tears and frustration after hurricane Ike

No matter how much hurricane preparedness you do and all the emergency survival kits stored away in the hallway closet there are still nothing that can fully prepare one for the hurricane damage that is done to the heart, mind, and spirit of a person, family and community when all is destroyed. There is just no type of hurricane safety for the heart. I wish there was.

As people in south Texas try to deal with their own personal disaster response there is now the complications of the economic storm that is hitting the nation with a 778 point Dow Jones plunge in the stock market today.

Families trying to secure loans for flood damage not covered by an insurance policy it is becoming more and more difficult more challenging to get fully started on disaster recovery. There is no emotional or financial storm shelter for them to flee to for safety.

Numerous families suffering form Hurricane Gustuv and Hurricane Ike beside the tropical stro Hanna that flooded out communities even past Chicago are not getting the emotional and financial disaster support that other natural disaster victims in the past have received. I have not seen any Hurricane Ike aid concerts or mass collections for Hurricane Gustuv. Emergency response socially to help thee families is not that common at all.

Crisis management teams are running low on money especially when the cash flow is almost no where to find. It is becoming harder for the Red Cross and other humanitarian groups to get donations. There is little in the way of advertisement. Disaster supplies in a number of areas are very limited.

Volunteer help is also limited as well. Many who would have been willing in the past to take time off from work as vacation time or even in many accounts leave without pay are terrified to be away from their jobs even for a day. Besides there is no money to travel to the disaster sites and offer disaster supplies. People and companies don’t have the extra money to do that now days.

The face of disaster recovery has changed so much so fast in a few years. Everyone is so preoccupied with their own personal security that few are able to help like they would want.

Yet disaster survival will occur no mater what. It will be harder but it will occur. The people of Galveston and surrounding area are strong and they will survive oh yes they will survive and even more so they will thrive.

Dr. Terrie Modesto, disaster grief specialist, author of Train For A Hurricane. Website: www.trainforahurricane.com Blog: http://disastergrief.blogspot.com/

Possibility of an atlantic hurricane storm are YOU ready?

Hurricane storms are also possible for us along the atlantic coast.

Just listened to the local news this morning, currently we are being told by hurricane forecast experts that another Atlantic storm may start the process of becoming a hurricane. Then I receive a CBN.com email calling for as much disaster volunteer help as possible since there are over 37,000 what can not go home yet from the deadly hurricane storm. Still 2.2 MILLION people still don’t have power. One organization alone is providing 2,000 people meals in their mobile kitchen and handing out emergency relief supplies and tarps as well as hygiene kits.

Hurricanes don’t go away just because the news media does. Those with emergency preparedness have been doing much better than those that do not have them.

Most hurricane storms will significantly impact a 100 mile inland. With Hurricane Ike it was a 200 mile inland impact area. That is double the area threat generally gets hit.

If the weather condition currently in the Atlantic forms into a hurricane it will be called Hurricane Kyle and this time there is a better possibility that it will be affecting the Atlantic shoreline instead of the Gulf of Mexico.

For those of us who have not had to face a significant hurricane season since Hurricane Isabelle, we may have let our emergency prepardness guard down and do not have our disaster supplies current. For many in our area that have moved in over the past several years most will not have had to deal with a hurricane safety issues. It is important that everyone get their get a current disaster plan in place. Most emergency management officials are more likely to call for emergency evacuations to be on the safe side than for their community to experience a Hurricane Katrina situation.

Even if we have to shelter in place it is important to have as much emergency supplies as possible ready for your household use. It’s no fun have to go to a mobile kitchen for food or not have the disaster supplies to get through at least 2 weeks without electric, water etc.

If a hurricane should roar into your community would you have hurricane shutters or plywood ready to be put up at your windows? Believe me tape on windows is a joke it will not stop a tree limb form smashing through your doors and windows. If a tornado would tear through your community as an after-affect of a hurricane, where is your storm shelter and is it disaster prepared for any type of emergency in a 2 minute emergency response time?

These are just a few of the questions that al of us within a 250 miles of a atlantic ocean or gulf of mexico shoreline need to have answers for ASAP. Quick disaster response can save your life and those that you love. Disaster survival is a year long must. Don’t expect the government or the disaster response agencies to help you out immediately or have all that you need for the longer term.

The only person you can depend on to help you is YOU.

Please check out my newest blog Disaster Grief and Recovery Bog http://disastergrief.blogspot.com/

COMMENTS WELCOMED!

Please share your thoughts, emergency preparedness tips and stories here on this blog.

All I ask is that everyone be respectful and sensitive of each other and that identifying information about a person who is not the author be limited to protect their privacy.

Be Safe – Be Prepared – Help Others!

Terrie

www.trainforahurricane.com

Hurricane Preparedness means never letting our guard down

We are just over half way through hurricane season

Many think the golden day concerning hurricane storms is September 10^th of every year. That is the historic peak day for Atlantic hurricane activity. This may be statistically true HOWEVER that does not mean that we can just forget 2008 hurricane season and think that it is all over with. There is a 20-50% CURRENTLY of another hurricane forming. That doesn’t include another peak of hurricane activity in October. With the summer been a VERY hot one the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico will stay warmer also.

We have been reminded of the mighty force of a hurricane from what w say with Hurricane Ike just a week or so ago. Still families are with out electric in many parts of Texas and the evacuation order has not been lifted as of yet.

This all adds up to one thing and that is hurricane preparedness. Hopefully everyone has their emergency preparedness plans completed and disaster kits at the ready. Emergency preparedness is not just hurricanes -- let us not forget the severe flooding that parts of this state experienced earlier this year from tropical storm hanna. Having our emergency preparedness necessities for sheltering in place as well as at least 2 weeks supply of basic disaster supplies for an evacuation for all members of the household including pet disaster kits for our companion animals will make a possible disaster situation a bit easier to cope with.

Our sisters and brothers in Texas and Louisiana can tell the pain, anguish and sorrow related to a category 2 hurricane. The saddest thing is that less than 20% of the population is adequately hurricane prepared nationally. True Floridians are some what better prepared but still we can never let our guard down.

Please check out my newest blog Disaster Grief and Recovery Bog http://disastergrief.blogspot.com/

Developing an emotional storm shelter in disaster and recovery

Hurricane preparedness means disaster planning and recovery for the short and long term.

Hundreds and even thousands of families are being allowed to journey back to see what is left if anything of their homes and communities after Hurricane Ike ravaged the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. Not since hurricane katrina has so much hurricane damage been done by the sheer force of wind and water.

When assessing hurricane damage one must assess it from the practical side of monetary loss but also from the emotional and community life aspect as well. For those who are facing the devastating destruction of their homestead, the emotional impact will deeply felt for years and lifetimes ahead. It is not just the house that is destroyed but also the community and the sense of wellbeing that was associated with the home will compound the disaster event.

As those who have experienced hurricane damage from such famous hurricanes as hurricane charlie, hurricane andrew, hurricane wilma and hurricane hugo to name just a few will tell you, the hurricane response is physical, emotional and financial. After the emergency response to disaster recovery of the physical safety issues of individuals has finished, the longer term emotional hurricane rescue ad recovery will need to happen. That is not an easy time for anyone involved. It can feel like for some like hurricane force winds will be beating at your heart .

Emotional disaster management needs to take place. Many will want to push ahead at lightning speed and try to spend 12-18 hour each day if possible working at storm clean up. The emotional backlash from this can be significant.

No matter how strong and practical a person is, emotionally, it takes time to grieve the disaster loss. It doesn’t matter how much emotional hurricane preparation you have done before the storm or contingency planning you do as your journey back down familiar roads that you hardly recognize due to the damage, nothing can prepare you for the intensity of emotions, tears, anguish and despondency one can feel when a disaster hits home.

Many who have gone through a devastating hurricane season and personally experienced tremendous loss will tell even years later that when first seeing their damaged or destroyed home, they wish they have could have just pull down an emotional hurricane shutter around their hearts and emotions and shielded it from the pain of such loss.

It sure would be nice if that was possible. Unfortunately there are no physical hurricane panels that can protect that can someone from the pain and anguish.

Even though there are no hurricane panels that can save the heart from disaster grief, there are ways for you and your family to start to get through the anguish. During those first few days, friends and family can be emotional hurricane protectors to help a person to get through the initial moments of disaster grief.

It is vital that you do not make any decisions during this time. Your emotional state of mind is in more turbulent than a category 5 hurricane with bands of grief, fear and loss swirling around inside.

Often when we are overwhelmed with the severity of loss, as well as the magnitude of issues that a person must face frequently due to a disaster, our ability to cope with the situation is impossible to do alone. It is during these times major a part of the disaster recovery will be that of friends and family can help provide a respite with some disaster management support while you begin the long road of disaster recovery physically and emotionally.

Allow these caring friends and loved ones to help with the initial disaster cleanup and salvaging for personal items from the damaged home. Let them take the pictures of the home and make phone calls that may be necessary. You don’t need to do everything yourself. Delegation of disaster cleanup tasks will help get the job done without tremendous stress all falling on your shoulders.

There will be volunteer services that can be of help and comfort as well as provide important information for disaster follow-up services. Get all the information you can. Many of these organizations such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army are well recognized as disaster support services. There will be lesser known ones as well who are also are very willing to offer support and help. Utilize their help and care that is what they are there for. Get as much information including as many of the handouts as possible.

It is unfortunate that during some of the more difficult days of your life you will need to also be very aware that not everyone is there for your best interest. There will be scam artists, individuals who will try to take advantage of you and the situation.

Avoid making any decisions without talking it over with a trusted friend and / or family members that you have know from BEFORE the hurricane disaster and NEVER sign anything without a trusted confidant and / or lawyer look it over. Even if you feel that all you want to do is to pull down the emotional hurricane shutter over your eyes and heart and walk away, this is not the time to make such important life choices. Give your self a week or so to adjust to the realities of the hurricane damage situation to your property and life before even thinking of making any long term drastic action.

hurricane recovery forgotten already?

Keeping an eye on hurricane recovery not a national priority I guess

My heart goes out to all those who have experienced loss in the terrible Hurricane Ike disaster.

I am very surprised at the lack of continued media coverage that has occurred in this catastrophic event. During Hurricane Katrina, there was significantly more media coverage over a longer period of time than what we are experiencing now.

Hundreds of thousands of people are still out of their homes and many more are out of electricity, water and sanitation services. A rescinding of the mandatory evacuation order has not been lifted as I write and yet it seems that our attention has already left this region and gone on to other important things like political campaigns and celebrity trails in another State.

It is still an emergency in the Southern part of the Texas and surrounding areas. Yet how much attention are we giving to it?

There is still the possibly of countless residents that have died as a result of Hurricane Ike and are even now rotting in the hurricane strewn debris along the shore lines of the Gulf of Mexico or what is left of their flood ravaged homes. Emergency rescue workers and loved ones have not been able to reach the deceased and give them their proper eternal rest. Yet the media coverage seems to have gone on to other bigger and better news rating events.

How come?

In other parts of the community, homes are still under water. For us, the media audience outside the disaster region, we are encouraged by lack of media coverage to return to our regularly scheduled programming and safe and comfortable lives out of harm’s way and the pain of disaster grief.

It’s easier that way I guess, but for whom?

How can we do that when 500,000 people still need emergency food and water while other disaster victims wait 12 hours in the heat for gasoline for their generators and the gas station runs out of fuel.

What gives?

Have we become so accustomed to catastrophic events in our life time that when a massive disaster in one of the largest cities in our nation is hit by a hurricane that is bigger than the entire state of Texas, the media networks give less than 48 hours of full post-event coverage?

Have we lost our heart?

Instead of showing the plight of so many, the media audience is being shown repeatedly the bickering of our potential national leaders over silly name calling antics, while hundreds of thousands of our citizens suffer and grieve. By the way does anyone remember that many of Hurricane Ike disaster victims and their loved ones can still vote even if voter ID cards are buried in the hurricane debris on Crystal Island or floating out in the Gulf somewhere after the storm blew everything they had away?

Have we become so callous to the devastation of a natural disaster? We gave more time and media attention to the Olympic Games held in a foreign country on the other side of the world than we are paying attention to the needs and plight of our fellow citizens HERE in our own country who are suffering a marathon of grief because of a massive storm called Hurricane Ike.

Where are our values and priorities?

When Hurricane Katrina hit, countries around the world offered their support with funding, material support and battalions of specialized disaster experts to aid us in our time of need. Where is the out pouring of help and prayers this time?

Or is it that there no value added opportunities to get photo ops and sensational coverage with everyone out of town in mandatory evacuations? Celebrities are not racing down to Galveston to “bring attention to the plight of the needy” when there is no one to see them do it under the craft skilled ability of publicity managers trained at arranging free national and international exposure of their celebrity product covered in skin stuffed with Botox.

Could it also be that since this is an election year some want to sweep the hurricane disaster situation under some flood soggy rug? Or is it that disaster coverage could take attention away from an election campaign that has gone on endlessly for almost 18-24 months already.

Is it that hard to share the spotlight of campaign media coverage? Is it too hard give a bit more of the spotlight of media coverage as rays of hope to hurricane victims that now have nothing but memories, grief and bills?

Many sit in cold and impersonal emergency evacuation centers with hundreds of other hurricane marooned strangers far away from home desperately looking for a glimpse of their home or community that may never be there again.

Frankly I really don’t know. That is the most honest to God truth I can say. I’m not pointing fingers, just trying to make sense of the developments and lack of coverage.

Does any body know the reason for this?

Have we become so compassion fatigued that we need more sensational events to keep audience attention, advertising dollars and media ratings? Where is the out pouring of concern and compassion that occurred for others in disastrous situations?

In communities far away from the Gulf coast we use to immediately go into compassion support not fatigue. Kids and adults together would stand at busy intersections of our cities an towns and collect pocket change and dollar bills from motorists driving by for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and 9-11. Both catastrophic events that called for our help and we responded enforce.

I haven’t seen anyone collecting on the streets for Hurricane Ike victims on the roads I travel these past few days. As residents of this great country are we so tapped out financially and emotionally that all we can do now is focus on ourselves?

Are we so fearful of what is happening with our retirement accounts with AIG and the other financial institutions that are on the rocks or buried under boulders of enormous financial burdens and debt that we are not as tuned in to the events and the needs of our brothers and sisters of the Galveston region?

Promises were made not to forget Hurricane Katrina victims and thank God many have not forgotten. We shouldn’t forget.

My fear is we are already forgetting or have forgotten Hurricane Ike disaster victims. Our amnesia and lack of compassionate response would be an additional disaster to those in need.

COMMENTS WELCOMED!

Please share your thoughts, emergency preparedness tips and stories here on this blog.

All I ask is that everyone be respectful and sensitive of each other and that identifying information about a person who is not the author be limited to protect their privacy.

Be Safe – Be Prepared – Help Others!

Terrie

www.trainforahurricane.com

Dr. Terrie Modesto, PhD, author of Train For A Hurricane is an international expert in dying, death, loss and critical incident individual and community disaster preparation and response with 20+ year’s experience. She has over 60 courses, books and training manuals to her credit. Website: www.trainforahurricane.com Blog: www.hurricane-prepared-ness.blogspot.com

Long time before disaster grief heals

Disaster recovery – more than homes that are broken – so are hearts!

Disaster recovery is filled with lots of broken things including hearts, dreams and lives. A few disaster victim families have been able to see their homes. One CNN reporter took some pictures of a family’s home that was damaged but still standing and showed it to the family since they were not allowed to go back to see the damage. . Others will see aerial pictures of miles of vacant lots on the shore line of bay side where once many homes stood against the bright sun and blue sky.

In the weeks ahead there will be a voyage to the nightmare of hurricane destruction. There will be so few things left that speak of life before Hurricane Ike came ashore. People will either want to just walk away and never come back or they will want to try to rebuild their lives instantly with what is left. Much of what is left, are memories that no one can not run away no matter how hard we try – nor should we.

Friends and family will want to help in the disaster recovery by tossing everything in a trash bag to get rid of the hurricane memories stained with tears, mud and seaweed.

Yet there is something else that is there—the few remaining artifacts that there was a life before Hurricane Ike. Please be gentle and careful of what you throw away. If you are not sure about an item then wait. Take your time sifting through the life you had before Ike blew in. It is a time to remember and to grieve the loss of home and history. There is a sort of grief comfort in sorting through the rubble. A broken cup, a broken picture frame can a have special meaning that it never had before. Those items many have no monetary worth but they can and often will have loads of sentimental value.

Coping with grief especially after a disaster is very difficult. Many think that grief help is about cleaning up and getting on with life. That is a part of grief process way down the line perhaps months or possibly years. The initial part is dealing with the grief by adjusting to the massive loss of not only things but of a history of life. The best grief support you can give during this period of time is not the clean-up but the listening to the stories and holding a loved one in the sobs of heart wrenching tears and wailing. That is disaster grief work of recognizing the depth of the loss that wind and water washed away violently.

Hurricane survivor grief does not go away quickly if ever. There is always a small portion of it that sits unmovable in the center of the heart. The tears spill out beyond the heart into everyday living.

Dealing with death of a homestead is a pain grief that unless you have experienced it is beyond words. It is a thief that has stolen the inner anchor of physical stability called home. Helping grief of this magnitude and nature is the strength of silent presence in the midst of disaster grieving. No one can take away the pain but can journey along side those that are in disaster anguish.

In the days, weeks and months ahead there will be numerous grief resources to help with disaster recovery as a promise of healing grief. Some grief resources will be more helpful than others and each person’s grief is different. The one frequent commonality is the slow process of time that heals some of the layers of disaster grieving. In time one adjusts life and faces again a new day while in some ways to a greater or lesser extend is coping grief in the face of a hurricane called Ike.

Bereavement support groups can be helpful for many as well as journaling, praying, jogging and drawing. They are all ways that can help disaster stress grief subside. Traumatic grief is one of the most sinister forms of grief, it sneaks back when you least expect it. People who have gone through such tragedies as a hurricane disaster often find bereavement help and grief counseling every helpful.

If you are beginning to clean up after a hurricane disaster both physically and emotionally, the best advice from one that has been there is take your time for rushing can often just delay the grief process and extend the pain of mourning, bereavement and grief. Grief can not be done away with quickly. It has its own pattern, time and rhyme.

“When in doubt- don’t throw out” a small mud stained hair brush that was your mother’s or a folk that was a favorite of your grandmother that is now bent and broken. These can be the gems to help hold on to the past as you reluctantly move into the future.

If the temptations to just get rid of things and move on at all cost then beware, for once you throw out a memory or an item no matter how broken it can often be impossible to retire it. So as you enter into the recovery phase of disaster deal gently with the time and decision hat you have to make. Not everything ahs to be done in a day or a week.

Follow that broken heart as it heals, the love inside will be the best compass and leader of them all.

COMMENTS WELCOMED!

Please share your thoughts, emergency preparedness tips and stories here on this blog.

All I ask is that everyone be respectful and sensitive of each other and that identifying information about a person who is not the author be limited to protect their privacy.

Be Safe – Be Prepared – Help Others!

Terrie

www.trainforahurricane.com