How to Support Yourself or Someone Else Who’s Been Affected by the LA Fires
Santa Monica resident, Vanessa Powell, recalls the terrifying moment she received her evacuation notice. “Everything felt so apocalyptic. Winds were beyond anything I’d ever seen, neighbors were spraying water on their homes with hoses, there was no power, cars were driving in the opposite direction, and people were screaming just trying to leave.” Powell was thankfully able to evacuate safely. But the emotional toll has been overwhelming. “For over a week, my heart has just been racing,” she shares. “I’ve been living in a constant state of panic and have been struggling with my mental health.”
As a fellow LA resident, I too received a timely evacuation notice, though I was safe on the other side of the world in Sydney, Australia at the time of the fires. However, the anxiety Powell describes felt just as real for me, even from afar, as my city—and possibly my home—were burning down one structure at a time. Another shared experience we have is a term called survivor’s guilt. Despite being fortunate enough to be safe, the weight of knowing so many others have lost everything lingers. “I’m so lucky and grateful to return to a safe apartment, but it comes with this underlying guilt,” Powell says. “Thousands of people lost their homes, their jobs, their schools, and it’s devastating beyond comprehension. There’s so much still happening, we can’t even take a deep breath outside because of the toxic air quality—it’s just been really hard,” she adds.
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