An article in The Atlantic examines how family units now prepare for hurricane evacuation and other options, and how the scope of knowledge has changed due to the efforts of the disaster management community.
Back in the 1960s, there wasn’t much in the way of information on hurricanes. Speaking of his childhood experience with Hurricane Betsy, Alton Davis says “We didn’t have storm trackers or any of that stuff. We just knew there was a hurricane coming. I don’t think people had any idea what the damage could be.” Davis remembers listening to the sound of the wind as his family hid in the center of their house, and going outside as the eye of the storm passed over them.
Davis, as a resident of the New Orleans area, has noticed in changes to how people now plan for these natural disasters, with a shift from reacting to individual storms to planning for the entirety of hurricane season. This has helped people to prepare for the worst case.
This improved preparation has taken many forms, from awareness of FEMA’s checklists and guidelines for families as to what tools and supplies they will want on hand, to Ready.gov’s resources and educational guides on how to help children cope with disasters, and other tools to ensure emotional trauma can be addressed.
Source:
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/09/family-hurricane-preparation/570385/
