Disasters Come in All Shapes and Sizes

When the world thinks about natural disasters, they are often thinking on a large scale: Hurricane Katrina, the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the Joplin tornados, wildfires spreading across state lines, and the like. In reality, however, those are a very small fraction of the disasters that happen almost daily around the world. Granted, the death toll and monetary damage may not come even close to that of a major disaster, but it is a disaster nonetheless to the people enduring it.

As my first job out of college, I worked as a newspaper reporter in a tiny town in Northwest Indiana. It was here that I had my first experience with flooding, and was there to witness a 100 year flood. In an already poor area, dozens of people lost their homes as the Tippecanoe River rose and swallowed everything in its path. The river flooded so often, it got to the point that homeowners were required to raise their homes – some as many as eight or more feet off the ground, up onto solid foundations – to avoid being flooded again. Every time the river flooded, it was all anyone talked about. Everyone knew someone who lost their home and everything in it. I had a similar encounter living in Northern Michigan and learning about towns that are frequently impacted by seasonal flooding.