I hate natural disaster movies. I am terrified of them.
A movie about a serial killer? I can handle that. A demonic possession film? No problem! But, when it comes to films about natural disasters taking out whole towns, I can’t watch it. It becomes too real.
For many people these events have become very real over the past few weeks as first Hurricane Harvey and then Hurricane Irma hit in the southern United States and the Caribbean, respectively.
Beautiful islands were utterly destroyed. Homes, resorts, hospitals, businesses all left in rubble after Irma’s wake.
This is absolutely heartbreaking.
It was just a few years ago that we were at St. Martin and St. Thomas enjoying these tropical paradises, and now they are torn apart.
With Irma sweeping through Florida now and aid finally arriving in the Caribbean islands, we are getting a good picture of what little is left.
Almost total damage to the island of St. Martin that’s only source of income is tourism.
On the island of Tortolla, there were reports of looting and people turning on one another in order to obtain precious resources.
With all of this going on, many of us are sitting back wondering what can we do to help?
Unfortunately, in today’s landscape it is easy to find people who set up scams praying on people want to assist.
MSN has this great article on how to help but also how to avoid scams.
One of their biggest suggestions is to go to the website Charity Navigator (charitynavigator.com) to do a search to see how the charity is rated and how they spend the money they raised.
However, there are some well known places that you can donate to that are going to aid in relief efforts:
For those that want to travel to the areas affected to lend a hand should check with their local Red Cross or Salvation Army to see how to do this.
Only time will tell how long it will take for these places to recoup what has been lost and to get back on their feet. But, even giving just a little will help.
Especially on this day in United States’ history when our country was changed forever with the terrorist attacks on The World Trade Center, Pentagon and Somerset, Pennsylvania, it is a good way to do something to make a horrible historic day a little more positive.
Mousekatots 