Making due after disasters

[ATCclears]

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Families in Texas and California, Florida's Keys and Puerto Rico lost their homes to disasters this year and find themselves making do this holiday season in makeshift substitutes.

The wildfires in California, the worst ever, are still burning. Power hasn't been fully restored in Puerto Rico, where Hurricane Maria inflicted the worst storm in a century. Thousands of Texans are still unable to return to their homes after floods from Hurricane Harvey left them uninhabitable.

Here is a look at how four families struck by disaster are approaching the holidays.

'It's Not the Same': Christmas for Families Who Lost Their Homes to Disasters

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[11Charlie]

Sad but I'm guessing true for some. I can totally see some people waiting for the government to come bail there dumb @&$ out

 

[Oathkeeper1775]

If times get bad enough; having only a poncho for a shelter would be a blessing.

Me and my family were homeless while moving from (a "place" in) Texas to Ft Benning, Georgia; living in a campground for a month+ until we could find a home. It was rough!

We made it work without privacy, without a yard, without physical security, without room to stretch out...only 1 vehicle...The 5 of us were sharing an amount of camping gear designed for 1.

Me still having to work, kids having to go to school...we made it because we adjusted our expectations.

Why my kids still want me in their lives....I don't know.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Mind set is every thing! Instead of focusing on what is wrong, or what is missing, or what the gov. Should be doing, you got to do what is needed to make it through!

 

[Colts4me]

Heck I don't know, after watching disasters all my life it seems each has its own difference. I look at them and say to myself what changes I would make but some of these reaccure time after time. If you live in a fire prone or hurricane prone area odds are you will get tagged. Smart folks would take the insurance money and move to better ground. While I have sympathy for them I hope they learn to live better.

 

[Caveman Jim]

EXACTLY, focus and determination will get you farther than waiting for a hand out,

 

[Southpaw]

Even though the Boy Scouts as an organization have gone way off the rails recently, IMO, I learned a lot about being prepared and being self sufficient and skills that gave me a good base to build on those decades ago.
I think when someone has a family that depends on them, they will have the strength and courage to do what it takes to see them through tough times. Planning and preparing for a disaster or emergency situation is time and money well spent.

 

[The Heretic]

I have lived "make do" a number of times, especially when I was young. From a house that was little more than a shack, to a small 15' travel trailer, to sleeping on the floor or couch a few places where friends or family let me crash when I was between having a place of my own, to living in the back of my pickup until I could find a place in Eugene while going to college.

My parents had it rougher - I have a picture of when they were first married and living in a 20' travel trailer in Burns - in the desert - in the winter.

My grandparents had - living in real shacks when they moved out here from Oklahoma as farm workers. A number of our farm workers lived in those shacks - no electricity, outhouse, only running water and a wood stove in a shack with no insulation.

There are a LOT of people (as in billions) in third world countries who do not have shelter or shelter you would not call permanent and who don't eat regularly and don't know where their next meal comes from, who deal with disasters all the time - war, flood, famine, drought - and they "make do" - they have no holiday from this life, no relatives to take them in. They "make do" because if they don't, they die when they stop - often they die anyway.



Whenever I feel a little down because of a setback or problem, or even envious of people I know that do much better than I do, I remind myself that there are billions of people in the world who would think I live like a king - who would gladly trade places with me, some who would literally kill to live like I do, or like almost all US citizens do.

I also remind myself - I am still alive.

Floods in Africa in August killed 25 times more people than Hurricane Harvey did

 

[Argonaut]

I have worked on disaster relief projects world wide for the last 40 years. We in the colonies define disaster relief as "am I comfortable" other places in the world have a very different definition. Humans have been reminded of what is important many times in every generation since we started walking upright, but over and over, we forget. Life isn't always convenient or comfortable. Staying alive for another day can be a tough activity.