Imagine waking up to a text in the middle of the night saying you have 20 minutes to evacuate. That’s what many residents in the California region would have experienced recently.
My daughter currently lives in San Fransisco and they all woke up Monday morning to a thick blanket of smoke enveloping the whole city. Smoke from the horrendous fires that had been ablaze all night in the Northern California region. A beautiful lush and hilly wine region I visited and enjoyed so much only a few months ago.
The fires of California have been horrible and destructive on so many levels. Lives have been lost, fathers, mothers children, friends…..
The effects are a lot more far-reaching than the initial loss of lives & homes that we hear about on the news. Imagine having no home, where would you go initially. A shelter living with other people where you don’t have your normal belongings around you. I am sure you would be happy just to be alive but the effects of our “things” around us are comforting. You would have lost your feeling of security and safety.
In some cases, whole townships are gone. Schools, shops, homes. Peoples livelihood gone. The mental effect would be far reaching into the future.
I can’t begin to imagine the horror it would be. But I wonder what we would take if given just 20 minutes to get out of our homes. For starters Im blind as a bat, 5 minutes would be gone just finding and getting my lenses in! Even if we all hope we would never be part of any big natural disasters, its worth pondering and getting yourself organised before it strikes.
My list would be:
My cat
My handbag – being female it has most essentials 🙂
Extra clothing for warmth and extra pair of undies
Personal important documents, e.g. Passport, birth certificate
My camera, Laptop & Kindle (oh I am such a nerd)
Photos (mental note to get them organised into albums)
Sentimental jewelry (my mums)
My box of memories (my old journal, letters from my parents etc)
I think my 20 minutes would well and truly be up by then.
I look around my place and see so many more things that mean something to me. Life memories that would be lost.
I hope I never have to experience anything where my list comes in handy.
My thoughts go out to all affected by the recent fires.
English