|
|
Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
|
| |
December
2005
Volume 9 - Number
3 |
|
The day that Hurricane Isabel came through Maryland, I was at Suburban Hospital, in Bethesda, Maryland, waiting for my grandmother to undergo surgery to remove a cancerous tumor. While everyone else was bracing for the impact of the storm, I sat in silence. I was completely overwhelmed by how serious my life had become in the last couple of weeks. I did not stop to think that people were going to have their lives affected by this storm. I barely noticed the property damage and relative chaos going on all around me. Perhaps I would have noticed it more if the electricity had gone out. That is all I remember about Isabel. I remember fallen branches and traffic lights that prevented drivers from going into intersections. In the middle of 2004, I moved to the Baltimore suburbs to participate in a national and local emergency response program through the city’s Red Cross chapter. I realized quickly enough that Hurricane Isabel had impacted that community more than I could have imagined. From what I was told, people who used to live close to the water near Baltimore harbor were still not able to return home and were still dependent on the assistance they were receiving from charities. Furthermore, the logistical nightmare that Hurricane Isabel caused for the citizens of Baltimore continued to serve as a reminder that people should never assume they are safe from natural hazards. Looking at what has occurred since then, I realize that people are always quick to convince themselves that it will always be someone else who will endure great suffering as a result of natural disasters. When I was sent to Florida in the fall of 2004 to respond to Hurricane Charley, I had a romanticized notion of what it would be like to help the people. I thought I would get in a truck and distribute water, ice, and food and people would welcome us with open arms. When I got to Hardee County, Florida, I had a quick reality check. My Spanish language skills were put to good use as I assisted one person after another in establishing case files with the Red Cross. Many of the people I spoke to were completely unprepared when the hurricane hit. People broke down and cried in front of me. People begged me to give them money even though I had no authorization to do so. People waited in lines for hours only to hear that they were not eligible for any help from us. Hurricane Katrina will forever be a point of reference for our country. When I try to understand the raw power of that hurricane, it almost seems impossible. The only hurricane I ever experienced caused only minor inconveniences. The magnitude of destruction as a result of Katrina is not something that I will ever be able to mentally process. It seems like something that you only read about because seeing it would be like living in a nightmare. As someone that wants to pursue a career in emergency management, it was unbelievable to see the way that FEMA and the state and local governments of Louisiana went through the response in slow motion as people died and we were exposed to the harsh realities of complacency. Hurricane Isabel served to wake me up and let me know that I was never going to be 100 percent safe. Life is always going to be full of unexpected and unwelcome surprises. My experiences since then have taught me that Hurricane Isabel was a lesson we should have learned but never did. |