What the cameras don’t see

I’m curious to see how the storm Sandy areas are going to be weeks and months from now. Once the first excitement is over, the cameras go away. The damage doesn’t.

Bodies were being discovered in New Orleans long after the news crews had moved on.

One thing to remember is that we are only seeing the damage because someone has been able to take photos and video. Some areas won’t get any coverage, even though they were affected.

Friends who live in Florida told me stories of an illegal migrant camp that hurricane Andrew wiped out. Few knew they were there and no one reported them missing. The officials weren’t too interested in finding out what happened to them.

Vermont was still repairing damage from last year’s hurricane Irene. Next time I’m over there I’ll have to see what the new storm has done to the recovery efforts. Irene was last year’s news, but some people are still living it every day. Recovering from a disaster that totally upsets your life takes time. Some wounds never heal.

I thought I’d spend the day doing post storm clean up. Through a combination of good planning and luck, there’s nothing to clean up. Anything that could have become airborne had either been taken inside or tied down.

This is a good time to review disaster preparations and to critique our performance. About the only major hole in my planning has been for the dog. I though I had a lot more dog food at the house than I did. Of course, she would have been very happy to eat table scraps indefinitely. That pup is spoiled as it is.

I’ve traveled most of the hurricane Sandy impact area over the years. I’ve photos and my memories on how things used to be. There are a lot of places that must be different now. Already some of those places have shown up on news sites. Others will never be on the National news. Those I’ll like to check out for myself.

For preppers, the story has just begun. How will people deal with the aftermath? When the cameras have moved on to cover the next celebrity, some of us will want to know how regular people are coping.

-Sixbears