Over the past several weeks, the country has seen heartbreaking stories of the Los Angeles Wildfires and the unprecedented amount of destruction they have caused. Collectively made up of the Palisades fire, the Hughes fire, and the Eaton fire; the fires are each more than 90% contained as of this week and have caused historic damage to the area.
So far, the fires have killed nearly 30 people, and at the height of the blaze, more than 200,000 people in the greater Los Angeles area were under evacuation orders. Overall, almost 16,000 structures have been destroyed, many of them homes and businesses.
City, state, and federal agencies have been working together for disaster relief in recent weeks. This will require removing tons of hazardous debris, rebuilding homes, providing temporary housing for those who have been displaced, and updating regulations and fire codes. This process also involves investigating the cause of the fire. While it is currently unclear how the Palisades fire was started, the Eaton fire is alleged to have been started by the company Southern California Edison, which is the largest power supplier in southern California.
But what happens after? When cleanup and rebuilding is done, how do you repair a community so devastated?
Researchers often point to a lack of mental health resources for victims during this time. Many victims have lost their homes and even their loved ones. There is also the collective trauma caused by entire neighborhoods and communities being effectively wiped out. Ellen DeVoe, a researcher at Boston University points out: “Experiencing this kind of catastrophe is distinct from other kinds of individual-level trauma…grief and loss over the destruction or loss of one’s home, sense of community and place, and severing of community and social networks can have devastating emotional, psychological, and developmental impact.”
The first step in the healing process is of course to reestablish stability for residents and their families. This includes providing housing, food resources, income and jobs, schools, and anything that will help rebuild the community. The next step, experts suggest, is to remove as many stressors as possible. This includes working to mitigate economic instability and uncertainty and making bureaucracy like insurance and government aid as straightforward as possible.
There is precedent for incorporating mental health care into disaster relief. Previous collective traumatic events, including major environmental disasters, terrorist attacks, and even the COVID-19 pandemic, did not see an increase in financial support for mental healthcare and post-traumatic stress, despite the fact that many adults reported feeling anxious or depressed. Nearly a third of respondents surveyed by the American Psychological Association in 2023 reported that the pandemic made them feel so stressed that they do not plan for the future. Furthermore, in a study twelve years after Hurricane Katrina, the researchers found that one in six of the survivors they studied were still suffering at least some symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Experts point towards these instances as a strong indication that more resources should be put towards mental health care in the wake of major disasters.
Los Angeles has made some strides towards assisting individuals struggling with their mental health in the wake of the fires. California supports the hotline CalHOPE, which was already in place primarily to help with youth struggling with a crisis, in order to connect survivors with local resources. The American Red Cross also provides mental health resources for the victims it assists. Experts say that increasing the number of local community support networks will also help in the effort to mitigate the effects of post-traumatic stress. As the city rebuilds, increased efforts to care for residents, in all ways, will be essential.
