Hurricane Katrina
We are still absorbing the terrible images from Hurricane Katrina. The images are seared into our minds. Tens of thousands of cars fleeing New Orleans. Tiny children being airlifted into helicopters, people stranded on roof tops begging for rescue, thousands of stranded people jammed into the Superdome. 80% of the city underwater and thousands dead. And there is, of course, the legitimate complaint that the most of the white people escaped the hurricane while most of the folk left behind were black or Hispanic.
On top of all these images is the fact that help for the stranded multitude took days to get mobilized. The President now says that everything will be done, but people ask, why wasn’t it done days ago? So on top of all the other stresses many people are left with one of life’s most painful feelings, the feeling of abandonment.
It was a terrible natural catastrophe. Everyone agrees that it will be years before all the damage is restored. What people do not mention is that the physical damage is not the only damage. The false myth in such catastrophes is that if we put everything back together, we have done all that needs to be done.
There is a place within survivors of catastrophes which is not touched by the rebuilding programs. This is a fundamental problem. We have to deal with the enormous wound that people have experienced to their sense of security. Before life was safe, secure, and predictable. Now it is dangerous, insecure, and totally unpredictable.
Evan when the entire jig saw has been put together, the roads, stores, industry and jobs back in place, we are still left with a haunting sense that this is just a temporary fix.
This condition of unease, heightened anxiety, fearfulnesses and awareness of danger is one many victims of Katrina will continue to have. It is this same experience, now called critical incident stress, which soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are experiencing. Critical Incident stress is something that happens to us when we are overwhelmed by life stresses. Soldiers who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan are not spared this experience, just because they are back home. In fact, they are suffering from Critical Incident stress in large numbers. Even in the safety of their military compounds, they are keyed up, anxious, fearful and ready to fight.
This same kind of fearfulness and over anxiousness will be part of the struggles of large numbers or survivors of Katrina. What people need to learn is what they can do for themselves and for other victims.
That is my experience. What is yours?