Where Comfort Begins
When asked to speak about disaster preparedness, I always start my presentation by stating that Noah’s Ark was the first disaster emergency response vehicle.
From Ebola in Liberia to locusts in ancient Egypt, from bridge collapses in Minneapolis to volcanic eruptions in Pompei, from the Asian tsunamis to the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, disasters are a major part of human and natural history, and not just natural disasters: Jonestown cult members drank the Kool-Aid in 1978; great fires burned Rome (AD 64), London (1666), and Chicago (1871); Jack the Ripper terrorized London in 1888; unfathomable and immense numbers of mass murders were committed during the Holocaust. From the Bhopal gas leak to the Buffalo Creek flood, the trauma inflicted by everyday and large-scale disasters is real and significant. No one is immune. Disasters strike rich and poor alike. Disasters inflict widespread physical damage and destruction, but also long-term psychological and spiritual wounds. The physical pain may heal, but the emotional and spiritual pain may never end without intervention and treatment. The damage is done both to the survivors and the responders.
As a child of the 1950s, I grew up in the age of “Duck and Cover,” when fear of nuclear war was at its highest. My Uncle Dean and Aunt Ruby built a fallout shelter on their farm in rural Missouri, using it to store canned beans and for tornado warnings, as well as a safeguard against a nuclear attack. My father was hired as a backup resource by the Air Force. They asked him to use one of his trucks from his towing business to pry off the cover of the Minuteman missile silo if it failed to open during a nuclear attack. I remember feeling both proud and horrified.
Today the scale and scope of disasters seems to have increased. Disasters once reported locally now cause worldwide stress and worry. One hundred years ago would anyone outside of Thailand have heard of the boys stuck in a cave? With the advent of technology, one cell-phone connected to the internet can broadcast catastrophic news instantaneously around the world. Due to the expansion of all forms of media, I experienced, albeit from a distance, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy; the Challenger explosion; Midwest floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other killer weather; Waco, the Oklahoma federal building bombing, and Columbine. A bomb was found on a bus I was riding in Jerusalem. I ran by IRA bomb debris during the London Marathon in 1997. And then came the terrorism of September 11, 2001.
The September 11 attacks on our nation precipitated an explosion of disaster preparedness activities—preparedness and mitigation, rescue and recovery, mass fatality management, and all-hazard training. Faith-based disaster response organizations, which had traditionally taken the lead in disaster response and recovery, were simply too small and underfunded to meet these new needs of disaster preparedness and response. Billions in government funds were dedicated to homeland security, and an entire new industry of disaster preparedness sprang up. In the Bible, there’s before the flood and after the flood; in the world of disaster preparedness in the United States, there’s before and after that crystal clear late summer day.
With 9/11 came the realization that no one private organization or government agency had the human and material resources to meet all the immediate needs of those so profoundly impacted. There was room for everyone. Prayers are welcome, but food, water, and shelter are essential. Both provide comfort. Now, communities, towns, and cities create disaster plans and evacuation routes. Neighborhoods and even individual households are encouraged to do the same. Disaster preparedness was suddenly big business. Today there are disaster “kits” one can buy online and disaster preparedness trainings, from the government (Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA]) to private security corporations, for the threat of international and domestic terrorism.
The September 11 attacks were both horrible and traumatic. They were broadcast globally from the world’s media and financial capital and seared into the consciousness of both the patriot and the idealist, the pacifist and the warrior. Using innocent civilians as hostages and commercial airliners as weapons brought the global war on terrorism into being and onto the nation’s shores. Disaster was not someplace else in the world. Disaster was here.
As a result of the terrorist attack on our nation, almost every locality suddenly felt vulnerable. Doing something feels better than doing nothing, and after 9/11, the threat of domestic terrorism became real. Suddenly there was a need for widespread disaster education, with many anticipating another attack, and a nation stepped forward seeking to know what to do and how government would meet their needs to protect, serve, evacuate, shelter, and comfort.
One crucial fact emerged—those with basic disaster training had less compassion fatigue and burnout than those who simply tried to assist without a basic working knowledge of the unique aspects of responding to a disaster. This was based upon a study of 800 spiritual care professionals working after 9/11 in disaster service delivery sites and published in the Journal of Nervous Diseases. Red Cross offers Disaster 101 and FEMA offers disaster preparedness and response as an online course. Even a few hours of training made a difference in knowing what to anticipate, growing awareness, and understanding the unique aspects of disaster.[1]
One of the changes that came out of 9/11 was a new emphasis on disaster planning. From government facilities to home daycares, everyone is encouraged to come up with guidelines on what to do in case of the once unimaginable happening again.
Government disaster plans may include citywide or regional evacuations and, for first responders, active disaster drills. Who is in charge is not just left to chance or who shows up. Most government offices now use the Incident Command System (ICS), which was developed in the 1970s as a way to more effectively deal with wildfires in California. It was found that the main problem in responding to fires was not a lack of resources but inadequate management. ICS provides a framework for first responders, so that everyone understands the command structure and their role in the response efforts.
Businesses should have a disaster plan as well as a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) as a best practice. This should not be just an occasional fire drill but a fully itemized and orchestrated disaster plan. What would happen if the brick-and-mortar part of one’s business is destroyed by a bomb or a hurricane? Could the business survive? Does the business have a backup computer system or access to the Cloud? What happens if your office is lost in a fire? These concerns, as well as many others, should be covered in a COOP, so that if something catastrophic happens, leadership and managers know what to do to minimize disruptions and maintain critical operations. Even with so much telecommuting and working from the road or home, having a COOP is reassuring and a comfort, knowing that one’s livelihood won’t evaporate even if one’s workplace is destroyed.
Schools have moved beyond the fire drill and now have plans for many different types of threats. Schools in Oklahoma are building reinforced safe rooms in memory of those children and teachers who died when walls and roofs collapsed during killer tornadoes. Disaster plans are required by state accreditation commissions today. All fifty states have experienced school shootings. Commercial organizations such as the ALICE Training Institute (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) provide school districts with active shooter scenarios and training programs.
Churches do not have divine protection from disaster either. The Department of Homeland Security/Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Preparedness consults regularly with congregations about active shooter prevention and mitigation and other basic disaster planning. Since many houses of worship are also used as community shelters, it is vital to have a disaster plan for feeding, sheltering, counseling, and other emergency services. Bulk foodstuffs and bedding are stockpiled in various locations around the country, however huge warehouses are not practical for the faith community and those are generally left up to government.
Families need disaster plans, too. Today adequate warning and alert systems exist that should give families opportunities to prepare and possibly evacuate, so it’s good to have a bit more of a plan than simply going to a corner of the basement in the event of a hurricane or lying down in a bathtub during a tornado. At the very least, families should have a plan designating a meeting point in case communications are shut down, emergency contact numbers, and have enough supplies stockpiled in one’s house for up to ninety-six hours (be sure to include food and water for the dog and cat). Have a disaster kit with batteries, flashlights, first aid, medicines, and other necessities.
For myself, I know that in the event of an emergency if I can’t get to our condo, I will go to our cabin in the woods. If possible, I will then text relatives of our safety. We have supplies in the cabin to support ourselves for a week. It is a privilege having a second home, and others may choose to rendezvous at grandma’s or Aunt Jenny and Uncle Tim’s. At our cabin, we have large multigallon containers of water, a solar-powered radio, candles, flashlights with batteries, lots of macaroni and cheese and tuna fish, and a backup generator. We have bags of dog food in water-tight containers and a first-aid kit. Although we are isolated, we have extra inflatable beds for company. There is a well and firewood. I am comforted by my disaster plan.
Disasters bring out the best and worst in people, and they exacerbate preexisting conditions like illness, racism, and other forms of discrimination based upon difference. During a tornado in Alabama in 2011, a black family was not allowed in the basement shelter of a white church. One recent active shooter training failed to address the needs of a transgender student in Virginia, who was not allowed in either the boys or girls locker rooms when evacuated and barricaded to protect students. This is unacceptable. Having and practicing a disaster plan allows us a chance to become aware of and deal with these and any other forms of discrimination.
Another aspect to consider when developing a disaster plan is whether the place you are trying to protect is a hard target or a soft target. Hard targets are places like military bases, police or fire stations, or armories—anywhere that is on constant alert. A soft target is a gathering at a theater, church, shopping center, or sporting event—anywhere that is not on constant alert. Emergency operations centers always open for large-scale soft targets like the Super Bowl, the Olympics, a Pope’s visit, or a political party’s national convention. Disaster preparedness plans include ramping up response operation leadership as well as staging supplies and resources including volunteers and management teams.
Oftentimes, disaster preparedness plans may include a widespread evacuation plan. Whether the evacuation is triggered by a hurricane or earthquake, a chemical fire or a dirty bomb, you need to know what to do when it’s time to get the hell out of Dodge.
Two million people tried to evacuate Houston for Hurricane Rita in 2005, but it was generally described as a failure due to traffic and insufficient resources. One group of senior citizens died when their evacuation bus caught fire outside of Dallas, a catastrophic loss of life.
The decision was made not to evacuate Houston for Hurricane Harvey in 2017 (due to the debacle of 2005), but then thousands had to be rescued from floodwaters in neighborhoods throughout the city and eighty-two people died. What constitutes an acceptable loss? Eighty-two lives? Two million on the road running out of food and gas? It becomes a difficult and sometimes political calculation.
Evacuations are supposed to be for everyone, with the assumption of transportation and privilege. But in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, not everyone had transportation or a place to go. Some residents chose not to evacuate for Hurricane Florence because they couldn’t afford to pay the cost of gas and hotels, opting to ride it out at home instead.
In 2014, the hunt for the Boston Marathon bombers precipitated, for the first time in recent American history, a citywide command to shelter in place. This means staying where you are whether at work, home, or school. All disaster plans have a philosophical underpinning of public safety. When it is not possible or extremely dangerous to the public to evacuate, shelter in place is the next best option. Schools have these plans as well for active shooters and other emergencies. Current recommendations urge preparations for staying where you are for at least three days after an event—at your school, at your office, at home, at the airport, or at the mall. Staying at home, and out of the way of rescue/recovery efforts, can protect both the general public and first responders.
From the fallout shelters of the 1950s and 1960s, which some families built in their basements or backyards, to the large public shelters that were stocked with provisions for sheltering large groups in urban settings, all levels of government urge preparedness for natural and human-caused disasters. Sometimes, a school or other building needs to be quickly converted in an emergency to a shelter-in-place location. And as in any shelter, public health issues remain and are often heightened by the damage to local infrastructure. Can there be a flu outbreak in a shelter? Absolutely. Can shelters be quarantined? Yes. Should all shelter residents have background checks? Not immediately due to the disaster emergency. Shelter residents need to be mindful of their children and watchful. What can happen in society can happen in a shelter.
In October 2018, FEMA sent out a message to everyone with a cell-phone. Many felt it was valuable; some felt it was a nuisance. AMBER alerts are common now. I receive flash flood warnings and power outage reports over my cellphone regardless of the hour. It’s the business model that has been adopted to alert customers, families, and individuals. Many children have their own personal cellphones and can communicate directly with their parents or caregivers. If evacuated or hospitalized, many simply text their parents where they are and where they are being taken. Just several years before, parents had to be sent to a central location to meet and collect their children.
How to use media alerts most effectively is an evolving issue. But for an alert system to be meaningful, worthwhile, and effective, you still have to get people to know about and sign up for them.
There’s only one problem with all these disaster plans: studies published recently in The New York Times show that fully one-third of the population is averse to disaster preparedness! There are a number of reasons for their hesitation. For some, disaster preparedness feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you plan for a disaster, their thinking goes, a disaster is more likely to happen. Other have the belief that in a disaster, the Lord will provide, that human beings do not really have to do anything, that some benevolent Creator will swoop in the last minute and rescue or save believers. This belief system can often be countered with the comeback, “Jesus is not going to be driving the rescue boat!”
However, there is also the reality that many Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and the ideal of stockpiling food for emergencies just isn’t a financial option. There are others with full pantries that are destroyed in disasters. The most essential needs in a disaster are information and reassurance. Information can be about evacuations and shelters, but primarily have to do with the safety and welfare of family members and pets. What one does to prepare for disaster, can comfort when a disaster happens. If the communications grid isn’t destroyed, I can let you know with my cellphone that I am okay. I am safe and well. That will be the ultimate comfort.
Ultimately, the purpose of all these disaster plans and preparations is to lessen the chances of loss of life. Knowing what role one is playing in the disaster response structure is essential. You are part of a team. You don’t have to do everything. Simply having a plan can decrease anxiety.
But having a plan is not enough—you need to practice carrying it out.
Emergency drills serve multiple purposes. Schools have fire drills so student will know where to go in an emergency, reducing confusion. However, drills can also expose flaws in a disaster plan, such as an escape route that is blocked by a locked door.
And drills aren’t only for children. Hospitals and first responders routinely practice disaster response. When I was at Cabrini Hospital in lower Manhattan, we conducted a drill one day, preparing for a dirty bomb. One of the nuns helping with the exercise ran into the lobby to help receive victims. She was promptly told by exercise organizers that she had “died,” because in responding to a dirty bomb, dangerous materials are more concentrated on lower levels. The proper response would have been to evacuate patients to higher floors. Chagrined, she sat out the rest of the exercise, but she will certainly never forget what to do if such a disaster ever occurs.
Teachers may undergo active shooter training with the trainers wielding nerf guns. This is not preparedness theater. This is standard operating procedure and a best practice for educators and students today. Drills can highlight evolving best practices as well. The newest recommendation in school shootings is to evacuate earlier instead of waiting for help to arrive. A gun can blow open a locked classroom door, a barricaded door offers more protections longer, but an empty classroom is the ultimate protection. Having patience for the police or a SWAT team to arrive is no longer considered a best practice. Disaster plans evolve and adapt to changing situations, reality, and research.
My own neighborhood SWAT team recently conducted a drill involving dozens of plainclothes officers immediately materializing out of nowhere for a practice scenario that involved rescuing hostages. Do these simulations make me feel safer? Yes. Thankfully we received a community notice in advance that this was just a drill.
After action reports on September 11 faulted the government for not being imaginative enough in scale and scope for potential disasters, the federal government started to create and rehearse many catastrophic disaster scenarios. While at the Red Cross, I participated in catastrophic mass casualty drills with the U.S. military North American Command (NORTHCOM) in Colorado Springs. These drills included imagined events such as multiple hijacked airliners, a mass fatality plane crash, and an earthquake “killing” thousands along the New Madrid fault.
Another scenario featured a dirty bomb exploding in Washington, DC, but I stopped playing that disaster preparedness “game” immediately since I (and my family, colleagues, and friends) would have been killed if such an event occurred. I did not share the glee in the room for such an exercise. There are disaster “junkies” who get an adrenalin rush when disasters are predicted and occur. In Haiti, it was a red flag for disaster managers when a colleague would get excited every time another body was found. He was reassigned away from that disaster arena.
For some, disasters and drills are entertainment—diversions from lengthy, dry lectures. But for others, living close to hard targets and harm’s way, they can be painful, emotional reminders that threats are real and proximity to potential targets carry immense burdens. While no one wants to live in fear, part of disaster preparedness is realizing disasters are not just things on television that happen to other people who live far away. Disasters can occur anywhere to people like you and me. They don’t discriminate between rich and poor or care about your age or race, but with just a little advance work, we can all feel a little more prepared.
An essential part of disaster preparation including the emotional and spiritual part are the concrete plans for your family. There are various sources for preparations but they all share one thing in common: making a plan for the next emergency.
Can one imagine what might occur, as has in the past, for a complete shutdown of the power grid and its impact on our connectedness? It’s not just the millennials who will be most impacted, but all of us. On September 11, circuits were overloaded and cellphones and Blackberries were rendered useless. During the New York blackout (any of them), again, basic communication wasn’t possible. Chaplains had walkie-talkies that worked on batteries and satellite signals to deploy emotional and spiritual care comforters to those who were forced to walk home to the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens en masse. Keeping calm and offering consolation was invaluable during the immense power shutdown.
But until you know where your family is—your spouse, children, parents, and close friends—you really will not be able to comfort anybody. You will be incredibly distracted and unable to listen to those needing to be comforted and reassured. Disasters are inconvenient and chaotic, and everyone may not be home when they occur. Children may be at school, and parents may be at work. Some will affect communication, and some will affect transportation, or both. Disasters will have an impact on young and old, but they will express their need for comfort in very different ways. One may face elements of mobility and medication, others may simply shut down in anger and rage because their smartphones are rendered deaf and dumb.
So, make a plan with the following four components:
Start with a family meeting to discuss what might occur in an emergency. What is our plan?
What does the family need? Be specific.
Write it down.
Practice it.
First of all, during the family meeting discuss and determine how one will receive news of an emergency and warnings. Is there a battery-powered radio in the household? (Alexa may be unable to speak to you.) Are there shelters in the house like basement game rooms or man caves? I live in Washington, DC, and evacuation routes are a big deal. Where do I go if I must evacuate my home? And make sure school and work have evacuation plans too that the whole family knows about. Finally, how will we talk or find each other if we are separated?
Knowing where the family has a predetermined meeting place if an emergency occurs will be extremely reassuring and comforting. By helping yourself, you will be in a position to help others and be of comfort. It may not be as simple as “go to grandma’s house” or “go to the church or synagogue,” but it starts one thinking about possibilities during extreme events like disaster emergencies.
Secondly, who am I responsible for? A real thought-provoking conversation starter that helps assess specific needs in a family. The baby, the great aunt, the elderly neighbor who lives alone, the student who is home from college, the pregnant daughter; basic household demographics must all be considered in making a plan. Each of them will have different needs—from dietary to medical needs (are they on oxygen, etc.?), different languages, cultural considerations, religious issues—all need to be considered in an emergency plan. After all, how can one comfort if basic needs are wanting or not being met. Other considerations may include locations frequented. Where does one go before or after work? Do they go to the gym or country club, to the soup kitchen? What about school-aged children? Are there after-school programs? And, finally, what about the pets. Some hurricane evacuees have left their dogs chained in the backyard during a rising flood, which is a very poor decision made in the heat of a family evacuation that was not well thought out. Pet rescues almost take as much time as human rescues in some disasters.
The third part after identifying all the possibilities and needs is to actually fill out and complete your family’s disaster emergency plan. Realizing that text messages may get through where phone calls don’t, make sure you include all forms of social media that may assist you in getting in touch with your family. Children and adults are becoming far more creative in communication methods, and it is good to have backup if the phones don’t work. Also important is medical and other information that may be helpful if one isn’t capable of communicating to helpers and others.
Churches and businesses have disaster plans, and schools have disaster and lockdown plans, but it’s important for families to have disaster plans, too. It is extremely reassuring and comforting to know the schools, communities, and hospitals regularly practice disaster scenarios from weather events to human-caused events like terrorism. Having an emergency plan for picking up children from school is comforting and basic. Not having a disaster plan today is unforgivable for those institutions that are caring for special needs populations like children and the elderly. Knowing what the plan entails and who to contact in an emergency is also basic. Will there be an emergency hotline set up just to handle calls from anxious parents? Will there be emergency meeting places for those impacted to go and await further instructions that are safe and convenient?
Will there be an out-of-town contact in case the destruction and devastation renders all communication out of commission? Does the family have an emergency meeting place outside the impacted area?
My family may try to reach a cabin in the mountains if the urban infrastructure is damaged or destroyed. Knowing that the family will rendezvous at grandma’s house is a comfort, but there are many new families that may not have a grandma or distant contact.
Finally, don’t expect all family members to remember what was discussed and decided. Practice the plan. For smaller children, one can make it a type of game or exhibition. There was actually guidance issued stating to think of a mass evacuation as an opportunity for your children to make new friends.
Try to communicate with various social media and smartphones. If you don’t have a landline for your telephone (an increasing possibility), make sure you have extra batteries and chargers for sites you might use.
In summary, not only should one make a plan, they should also build a kit for emergencies (see chapter 6). That plan includes discussing and putting together an emergency disaster plan (think about what specific needs there will be for your family). Put the plan down on paper and circulate it to every member of the family, and, finally, take time to rehearse the plan. Know that there is a happy medium between Old Testament prophecy like “the sky is falling” and “scaring the heck out of everybody” with plans for an immediate Big One.[2]
There will be major differences between a comfort care plan for an urban area that is densely populated and a rural community where people live far away from one another. There are those who have historically had disaster plans in case of tornadoes or established hurricane evacuation routes. In simpler times, people may have gathered in the church basement or school gymnasium and shared casseroles and potluck if there was an emergency. Many privileged people have summer or vacation homes that they can evacuate to in a major emergency.
But emergency managers in the government working with the private sector need to be mindful of the privilege of evacuation, which may not be possible for the elderly and the poor. Having an emergency plan is not a luxury but a necessity today with threats of more intense weather, as well as fears of domestic and other terrorism. How can I comfort you if I don’t know where to go and what to do? If I can’t tell you reliable, basic emergency information, how can I comfort you?
Take disaster training; even a basic course makes a difference. Knowing what to do may be a comfort when you are overwhelmed. Start with www.ready.gov or your local Red Cross.
Take a deep breath and make a plan. Write it down and post it. Once again, knowledge lessens anxiety.
Evaluate your basic needs and resources and build a disaster kit.
Talk to family, friends, colleagues, children—make sure they know what to do.
Don’t let the stress of getting things “perfect” prevent you from doing anything at all.
Be flexible. Be confident in hospitality. Add another plate. Welcome those in need.
Designate a family member or friend to contact in an emergency and a meeting location.
Be patient. Have age-appropriate conversations with children and reassure them.
Be kind. Reassure the elderly and groups with special needs. Let a family define who is a member of their family including pets.
Be authentic. Personify hope and reason. Say what you mean and only what you know to be true. Do not pass along rumors. Be the nonanxious presence in the room.