The Solitary Man’s Refuge (16 page)

A person’s religion also affects how individuals in
the same community view their circumstances. A recent
article discussing race and religion in New Orleans in the
aftermath of Katrina posed these questions.

“How do evangelicals and fundamentalists process
the racial components of the disaster? Will
Fundamentalists and Evangelicals regard for New Orleans
as a sinful city impede the rebuilding process?”

That some people view the storm as Gods’ wrath or
give thanks for their salvation is a very interesting anomaly
of different cultures. A lot of those churches with food
pantries will be wielding a lot of power and influence for
better or worse.

The views of why disasters happen and the role of
God regarding them have been debated for centuries. One
of the most famous historical accounts of how this mental
process works was the account of the Lisbon earthquake.

The Lisbon disaster of November 1, 1755, began as
an earthquake in the bottom of the sea near the port city of
Lisbon, Portugal. Lisbon was struck with violent shocks,
followed by a tsunami with eighteen-foot waves at Lisbon
and sixty-foot waves at Cadiz, Spain. A fire lasting six days
gutted many buildings in Lisbon. As the result of the
earthquake, the giant waves washing ashore, and the
prolonged fire, large public buildings and 20,000 dwellings
were lost. 60,000 people died in Lisbon from drowning,
burning, suffocation, dehydration, starvation, disease,
exposure, looting, and crushing from collapsing buildings
and falling debris. Many others died elsewhere from the
tsunami.

Throughout Europe, people began asking, "Why
does God allow natural disasters in which many people
are killed?", "If God has infinite power and God is good,
why did he allow the Lisbon earthquake to happen?",
"Perhaps God is good, but doesn't have the power to
prevent natural disasters.", "Perhaps God has the power
but doesn't care.", "Perhaps it is not God's policy to
interfere with nature.", "Perhaps the people of Lisbon were
evil and had it coming.", "It is not fair for Lisbon to be
destroyed while many other cities were untouched." All
these questions, pat answers, speculations, and
complaints had a hollow ring.

The way various members of a religious sect or
group view themselves as well as how much assistance is
expected from their organized religion is a very interesting
insight into the cultural aspects of disaster. This next case
demonstrates the difference between “demand" religions
compared with "assistance" religions.

Regular exposure to hurricanes, and vulnerability to
volcanic and earthquake hazard threats, makes the Fijian
islands an appropriate group to study, particularly because
the occurrence of a disaster is often accompanied by
substantial foreign aid and assistance. Irrespective of its
altruistic intentions, unless this aid is designed in a manner
consistent with community and cultural needs, it may,
rather than assisting recovery, produce responsegenerated demands (Quarantelli, 1985) that compound
community problems. Two problems with external aid
provision are readily apparent. Firstly, aid practices and
procedures, particularly those aimed at mitigating mental
health consequences, are often developed in a cultural
context that differs substantially from that prevailing within
the affected country. This raises questions ranging from
the validity of theoretical constructs and intervention
procedures to the degree of cultural safety afforded by
their use. Secondly, the ad hoc nature of intervention,
largely as a consequence of the unpredictable (with
respect to time, place, severity, etc.) nature of disasters,
typically precludes attempts to identify the vulnerability
characteristics that must be accommodated within
culturally-safe interventions and which need to be
considered if attempting to develop resilient communities
(an important issue in countries like Fiji where natural
disasters occur frequently).

Some 94% of Fijian Christians expected their
church to render assistance to them. There was a
confident anticipation that the church would "get them back
on their feet" no matter how severe the damage. Reports
of the last hurricane included stories of the church building
new houses for members whose homes were destroyed.
The church often supplied members with food and
provisions over and above standard government aid.
There was a strong belief that relief money was no
obstacle for the church and that a high level of competent
support could be expected. With the availability of foreign
aid (from overseas Christian Churches), the Christian
organizations of Fiji are able to provide good support on all
levels, including reconstruction of housing, relocation,
limited financial aid, and household food and supplies.
Members of the Christian Church do not have any
demands placed upon them apart from attending church
and their usual church duties. The Christian Church can be
classified as providing an "assistance" environment”.

While still anticipating some assistance, the
expectations of members of Islamic Mosques and Hindu
Temples were lower than those of their Christian
counterparts. After a disaster, some 75% of Hindus and
63% of Muslims expected assistance to be forthcoming
from their Temple or Mosque. Stress reactions could be
exacerbated or compounded if this support fails to
materialize or falls short of expectations.

Another difference between Christians, Hindus
and Muslims was evident in regard to the expectations on
the part of their respective religious centers to require and
request assistance from its members. Hindus and Muslims
are expected to provide manual labor (particularly by
trades persons), food supplies (for the Mosque staff and
Temple committees as well as the poorer of their
members), building provisions (for the Mosques, Temples
and their poorer members), and financial aid. Due to
limited resources, Muslim Mosques and Hindu Temples
come under the "demand" category of post disaster
interaction. That is, the members of these organizations
are expected to make contributions toward the repair and
continuation of their Mosques and Temples, as well as
providing support and assistance to their poorer fellow
members. Operating within a "demand" environment may
increase the psychological vulnerability of members of
these religious denominations.

On the basis of these observations, membership of
the Hindu and Muslim religions could constitute a
response-generated demand. We could thus anticipate
higher levels of post disaster stress amongst members of
"demand" religions compared with "assistance" religions.

The unavailability of traditional funeral services was
also to be sure to impact society’s mental health now that
they would soon, for the most part, be to difficult to
arrange.

Public rituals around death strengthen the social
bonds with the hope of shared survival. Such acts fight off
death through continuity of the social group: funerals give
the members of society the impression that death is
culturally controlled and regulated; they help society
confront the death of its members and mend the trauma of
loss.

The ambulance companies and mortuary services
will be overtaxed and consequently corpses cannot be
taken from houses or streets, in some cases it will be
shocking to have the departed unnoticed or unattended for
several days or weeks or unceremoniously loaded onto a
flat bed truck for deposit in a mass grave.

The next time tragedy strikes, and this mess we are
about to go through is far from over yet, people best
remember the old Aesop fable of the grasshopper and the
ant because big government can’t and won’t bail them out!
We all need to ponder about personal and family issues
such as how to do things for ourselves like treat the sick
and manage without some of the usual conveniences and
supplies we take for granted or think a trip to the corner
store will provide.

Every individual and his family can become a target
at any time or place in the world from terrorism to the
impacts of disastrous weather; if you are prepared for it
you lose a lot of the fear of the unexpected because you
do expect it. You have adapted.

FDR said “The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is
Fear Itself”: it’s time to realize the wisdom of these words
once again. Community and Personal planning helps to
remove fear. Knowledge of the threat and what to do about
it before it happens is the key to surviving a disaster.
Spreading the word, stocking supplies and watching the
political climate the same as we do the weather is how my
family and friends deal with the threat of terrorism. I hear “I
regret that it’s necessary to plan”, I do not hear “I fear to do
so”. A survival mindset is the one thing I can give to
everyone, they all expect to possibly lose all their precious
preparations and be forced to play refugee if they have to,
but they know what to do and view themselves as
“Survivors” not victims.

“Recognize yourself and others as SurvivorsViewing yourself or others as a “victim” of terrorism or any
type of traumatic, painful, or extraordinarily stressful event,
discounts the person’s survival skills. Although the person
may feel like a “victim” of terrorism, the “survivor” is
someone who is resilient, knows how to ask for help, and
has the ability to develop positive coping behaviors”
(Stebnicki, 2007) Preppers are naturally resilient survivors
who will not be burdened with the stigma of being a victim,
if they do a bit of self reflection on their survivor mindset.

A positive mindset is also instilled in those around
me. As quite often the subject turns to terrorism and its
effects whereby, I fall back on my lessons from many
courses to make an informed comment or observation.
That someone is doing something about gathering and
learning information on all things relevant to Emergency
Management and disasters, gives most people a sense of
relief that there just might be someone out here in
administration that will be there for them when they need
them and will educate them of dangers before an event
happens and helps them to unburden a lot of fears.
Educate the public and we all benefit. The Prepper
community as a whole is a treasure trove of information
and informed individuals ready to be tapped. The regular
Emergency managers I can tell you now do not have a
plan for a solar storm event and really could do little or
nothing to help the masses of people impacted because of
its huge magnitude of this type of nationwide extremely
chaotic event. Prepare for yourself for this type of disaster
or suffer some dire consequences because you will be
basically on your own.

One particular preparedness measure many hold
dearest and depend on in times of troubles is their belief in
a higher power and how they view what kind of support
both physically and spiritually that affords them. Get right
with these expectations now before some event occurs.
Think about how you are going to relate or interact with
people who may hold different religious or moral beliefs
about the nature of a disaster also. If you are part of a
church ask what plans might be in place if they were faced
with a major disaster or if they have even considered their
role and the churches members’ role in times of major
troubles.

“Ok, then I will turn in. Doesn’t look like anyone is
around the place at the moment, unless he parks his truck
in the back of the house.” Bubba said as he navigated the
steep driveway that lead to Donald’s prepper shack.

They parked the motor home in the driveway and
left a frustrated Harley dog in it as they walked around and
checked out the backyard of the house. Nothing back
there except a large raised bed garden and another
storage building Don used as a garage for his lawn tractor
and rear tine tiller.

“I guess we can let Harley out for a little bit, but
keep him on a leash for now. I will go and get the key Don
hid for us and we can check out the inside of the house.”
Bubba said before setting off to retrieve it from its hiding
place.

“Hey, not bad. Turn that faucet on in the kitchen
and see if he has any water. I don’t know if he is on well
water or city or what.” Bubba said, looking around the
place after he unlocked the front door.

“I wonder where Donald is at.” LowBuck called
from the kitchen after examining the contents of the
refrigerator. Donald would have seen to this food if the
power had been off for any length of time and he had been
in the area.

“Cat, I am going outside and look to see if he has
a barbecue grill. Would you mind starting to clean out the
fridge in the meantime?” Bubba said as Cat started to
open the window blinds and curtains to let some light into
the place.

“I am sure he does somewhere. I will do the fridge
in just a min. Hey, Bubba, a couple is walking up the
driveway.” Cat said looking out the window and seeing two
people coming in the gate and walking down the gravel
driveway towards the house.

“Keep an eye on Harley and come outside after I
talk to them for a minute, if it looks ok.” Bubba said and
went out the front door to great the strangers.

“Hello, you must be Bubba, the Low Buck Prepper.
Donald said you were coming by and to be on the look out
for you and your motor home. We saw you pull in here a
few minutes ago. I am Michael and this is Amy.” The big
stranger said extending a handshake to Bubba.