David
Suzuki often quotes himself to repeat his notion of the flawed way we measure the progress of our economy. By this time next year,
Suzuki would tell us that Alberta's gross domestic product will show a huge boost from the devastating floods that have swept the southern
half of the province.
Even
Red Deer got a GDP shot in the arm in the past week, with
berm-building and the overtime paid to city staff and police needed
to keep people from getting too close to the limited flooding we
received here.
But
we all can agree this is economic activity we would much rather do
without.
Nevertheless,
the financial exchange is going to be substantial. As the first group
of families returns to their flooded homes and businesses, we are
just beginning to see the damage done by the water and mud of the
flooded Alberta rivers.
When
100,000 people are forced to flee a natural disaster, that represents
an awful lot of material left behind to be ruined.
Consider
what's in your own basement and multiply that by tens of thousands.
That's just the beginning of what Albertans will need to replace.
That's just the stuff you can see.
The
province and the municipalities affected can probably multiply that
again in infrastructure costs; roads, power systems, water and sewer
line repairs, not to mention the person-hours of staff working
exhausting hours trying to keep civil society intact through a period
of chaos.
Reporters
are already asking officials for estimates of the damage done by the
flooded rivers. But you can understand why giving an answer now is
pretty well impossible.
Through
this, Alberta must reckon the value of pulling together in times of
disaster.
Foreign
reporters have commented on an apparent lack of preparedness of our
towns and cities to cope with an event like this. They asked: where
are the shelters to house 100,000 displaced people? Where are the
tents, the cots, the pyramids of bottled water we can photograph?
Many
thousands of those spaces ended up being the bedrooms and living
rooms of citizens willing to take in a stranger in need.
Just
as we cannot measure the cost of flooding like this, we cannot
measure the value of volunteers hoisting sandbags, cooking meals and
providing their own homes as emergency shelter.
Economists
will not measure these things as GDP, but their effect on the
well-being of people can be as powerful as a flood.
In
that regard, the unmeasured investment of our cities and their people
is just beginning.
In
times of crisis, people want to help. The task for all of us not
directly affected by the flooding is to ensure that our help is
effective.
Our
hearts go out to the people we see gutting their homes, and putting
everything that was inside them into a dumpster. In many cases, that
even includes the wires in the walls. The scale of loss is difficult
to imagine.
It
is by no means certain how much of this loss will be covered by
people's home insurance policies.
But
people do not need new TV sets or sofas in the basement right now.
They need clean water, food, shelter and the basics of life restored.
We
do not need to provide these things directly. Far better to support
the agencies who make a profession of dealing with disaster.
That
would be the job of agencies like the Canadian Red Cross. It is quite
easy to reach their web site online. An average $50 donation from
even half of Red Deer's homes would translate into huge support.
There
are other avenues to give assistance, but be careful to ensure that
“instant charities” do not compound the loss by siphoning off the
help you give.
And
those families who continue to house people displaced by the
floodwaters are providing a public service that literally cannot be
measured in dollar terms.
Considering
the scope of what has happened, it is amazing the loss of life has
thus far been limited to three tragic deaths. Think of the flooding
that occurred in India, which has wiped out more people than the
population of Red Deer!
The
people at work directly on the disaster so far must be exhausted. But
for the rest of us, our work and our contributions are just
beginning.
A
huge portion of recovery will never be counted in federal and
provincial disaster aid dollars, insurance claims and goods and
services bought.
The
best of this recovery will come through communities that pull
together.
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