I was thinking this morning about the thousands amoung millions of ppl that are victims of hurrican ike and hanna and i thought how would i react : would i be able to encourage myself and put myself back together after watching my things float 15 to 100 miles down the road, could i be an encouragement to others to hold on and be thankful that their life they still hold????? would i???wat do u think.......

Alot of people don't really know their strengths (and weaknesses) until something catastrophic occurs that directly affects them. I would hope I could put it behind me and deal on a day to day basis, or hour to hour...whatever it takes. I saw a man on the national news that said he would do whatever it takes to survive and the idiot with the microphone asked him "Whatever it takes?" What is the victim supposed to say...he's not bothered in the least and he's so rich it means nothing that he lost all his material possessions?  These people need help; they don't need to be queried by some moron standing in water that will sleep in a warm, dry place tonight pressing them for details when their head is still spinning from the shock they've endured.

I would hope that for myself I could view it as a chance to make a fresh start (and my house needed cleaning anyway).

Dealing with a hurricane or any other type of emergency does, at times, change your life drastically, and suddenly, It will usually take a long time to recoup from it... A while back I posted an article about having a “friend and family” emergency network... which include, contact numbers, places to meet, materials and supplies... and a disaster plan that would include the entire network of friends/family.  I guess that the best way to deal with disasters is to have a plan and be prepared as much as possible. Being a volunteer rescue worker, I can tell you that it does make a huge difference when people have at least a plan, sometimes the difference of life and death in some cases. “Be safe, be prepared.”