Weathering the Aftermath of a Cat 5: "Even if the physical damage is limited, the emotional toll still exacts a price. Normal life becomes untenable."(THE ENVIRONMENT) (Personal account)

• Author: Perakis, Christine
• Position: THE ENVIRONMENT

IWAS HOME ALONE in my hilltop residence in the British Virgin Islands when a Category 5 hurricane hit in September 2017. It tore the roof off where I lived, destroying everything inside; it was the most-traumatic night of my life. Then, with dramatic flair, it was over, and the skies cleared. Eighty-five percent of the housing was destroyed.

Many of us lacked adequate long-term shelter, consistent access to communication with loved ones abroad, or news and information about what we could expect from our government and resources on the ground. We were left for months without running water, electricity, telecoms, and cooking gas.

After Hurricane Irma struck, the only means of government communication mustered to update us on imminent danger (like Hurricane Jose due three days later) were trucks with loudspeakers announcing that we should prepare for another hit. Thankfully, Jose made a right tum.

However, two weeks later, we were hit yet again--this time by Hurricane Maria. The impact was less direct as the winds slammed us at a somewhat "reduced" Category 5, instead taking her wrath out on Puerto Rico, also leaving its residents in dire circumstances. (A Category 5 storm is one in which there are sustained winds exceeding 156 mph.)

Those interminable months following Irma and Maria grew even harder to weather than the storms because basic services remained virtually nonexistent. The result was what I call Post-Category 5 Syndrome. The despair, fear, panic, constant anxiety, paralyzing incapacity to help ourselves... these are some of the symptoms that often define our existence following a Cat 5 storm.

It is isolating, overwhelming, and immobilizing even to think about or know where to begin to pick up the pieces after experiencing such total devastation. I have interviewed people who work with refugees in war-torn regions. Similarly, these victims often can be found sitting helplessly among the ruins, lives upended. Shell-shocked, all they can do is hope for aid, which may not be coming, to arrive. Still, they wait for rescue and reprieve from having to figure out what to do next.

Once the storm is over, the floodwaters recede, and "out comes the sun and dries up all the rain"--and the story drops from the headlines. People in unaffected areas believe that the impact is over, and it once again is business as usual. With diminishing attention, the possibilities of aid and other relief dim, leaving residents even more alone.

In the aftermath...