Hurricane Helene Shows Need to Establish Resilience Networks

Hurricane Helene just devastated Asheville and other parts of Buncombe County in Western North Carolina. This is close to where my wife grew up and her sisters still reside. Fortunately, they were not hurt. But the destruction shows that no place will be safe as the global climate-ecosystem-biodiversity (C-E-B) crisis accelerates. Everyone must be prepared for what is speeding their way, and the best way to do this is to establish permanent “resilience coordinating networks” in neighborhoods and communities across the U.S. and worldwide.

To understand why resilience networks are urgently needed, it might help to understand the common phases of disasters.

Often, but not always, people are notified about a pending disaster days, weeks, or longer before it occurs. This is called the “pre-disaster” phase and can motivate people to prepare. People living in Buncombe County, where Asheville is located, were warned about heavy rain and wind. However, few did much to prepare because they could not imagine that the storm could cause such vast destruction where they reside almost 400 miles from the Atlantic coast.

If history is a guide, 20% to 40% of the people who were directly impacted by Helene’s destruction will likely experience severe anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or other mental health issues.

During the storm and when it began to weaken, some residents put their lives on the line to help others. This is called the “heroic” phase of a disaster.

After Helene passed, the media published numerous stories about how local residents came together to help strangers find loved ones, obtain food, water, shelter, or power, and provide other forms of assistance. [i] This is also very common and is called the “community cohesion” phase of a disaster.

The mutual aid and emotional support offered by fellow residents can help prevent serious physical as well as mental health and psychosocial struggles from emerging. Assisting others also gives people meaning and purpose. This illustrates that when humans focus on something greater than themselves, their inner strength and resilience can grow.

In Western North Carolina, the community cohesion phase will likely wind down after a month or so, although it might last longer given the extent of Helene’s destruction. It will eventually end, however, when people shift their focus to putting their own lives back together and no longer have the time or capacity to do much to help others.

Given the extent of the damage, it will likely take months or even years for many residents of Buncombe County to come to grips with what happened and begin to recover. This will be especially true if they lost loved ones or their residences, businesses, jobs, or other valuables. Distress and despair are likely to emerge during this lengthy period, which is why it is often called the “disillusionment” phase of a disaster.

It is during this lengthy period of dismay that most mental health and psychosocial problems will likely appear.

If people have sufficient social supports and the resources to rebuild or move to another location, they will eventually come to terms with what happened, work through their grief, and begin to recover. However, people who lack supportive relationships, enough resources, or who experience additional losses, and those who have previously experienced severe personal traumas, can continue to experience mental health struggles for months or years.

Even people who begin to recover can regress or backslide into a permanent state of dysregulation if they experience another disaster. This is likely to occur worldwide because the C-E-B crisis will repeatedly generate disasters, emergencies, or harsh stresses. These adversities will frequently make it difficult for many people to fully recover and return to a state of wellness.

The Common Phases of Disasters

Source: Preventing and Healing Climate Traumas: A Guide for Building Resilience and Hope in Communities, (2023) B. Doppelt, Routledge Publishing.

This explains why it is essential to organize permanent “resilience coordinating networks” in neighborhoods and communities. The C-E-B crisis will accelerate for decades. Everyone will be at risk of being impacted by the more frequent, extreme, and prolonged damage it produces.

Some people will be traumatized when directly hit by a disaster and need strong support to recover. If they lack good social supports and other key resources, many more people will experience mental health and psychosocial problems months or years after the initial impacts, and some might remain dysregulated.

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Further, as Helene’s devastation demonstrates, even when they are made more “climate resilient,” many roads, bridges, and other physical infrastructure, as well as buildings designated as “resilience hubs” that are supposed to provide a safe place for people during disasters, will often be damaged or become inaccessible. This underscores that, while important, strengthening external physical resilience is by no means sufficient.

We must also prepare people for what is speeding their way. This requires establishing and maintaining for decades to come the “social infrastructure” in neighborhoods and communities that builds and sustains the mutual aid and emotional support that emerges during the “community cohesion” phase of disasters. This is what local resilience coordinating networks can do.

As seen where they already exist, these networks can be composed of local grassroots and neighborhood leaders, youth, education, business, emergency response, ecological regeneration, faith, physical and mental health, and other civic, nonprofit, private, and government organizations.

Together, they use a public health approach to implement strategies that build and sustain social connections and empower residents to provide the mutual aid and emotional support people need to survive disasters and extreme stresses. The resilience networks often engage in other actions as well that help residents remain physically, socially, psychologically, and emotionally healthy and resilient during adversities.

Engagement in these activities motivates many people to rise above their own needs and focus on others. This enables their inherent strengths and resilience to flourish, and gives new meaning and purpose to their lives that will help them and others during future challenges.

If we learn anything from Hurricane Helene, it is that establishing resilience networks in communities that strengthen the human dimensions of wellness and resilience must become a centerpiece of our response to the C-E-B crisis.