Humour

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Shelter Management, Houston HQ, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Derrick Harvey
Hometown: Comox, British Columbia, Canada

Tragedies sometimes evoke humour that allows people to deal with stress and to cope with the emotional pressure that was and is Hurricane Ike. There are some things that we have learned from this event. Let me share them with you.

1. Coffee and frozen pizzas can be made on a BBQ
2. He who has the biggest generator wins
3. TV is an addiction and withdrawal is painful
4. There are a lot more stars in the sky than most people realize
5. People will line up for anything... even if they do not know what the lineup is for
6. Crickets will increase their volume to beat down even 30 generators
7. Children can survive more than 4 days without a video controller in their hands
8. No matter how many times you flick the switch... without electricity, the lights will not come on
9. A 3 kg bag of ice will keep a 6 kg turkey frozen for 8 hours
10. When required, a Lincoln Continental will float. It won't steer, but it will float
11. People can walk a lot further than they think they can
12. When the phone lines are down, a cell phone will work for about 5 hours.

So there is a way to relieve some of the tension and stress generated by this Hurricane. It is not out of line to find groups of Red Cross workers having a good laugh about some aspect of their deployment and enjoying the relaxation that comes with laughter. I am coming down to the end of my rotation here in Houston, and as expected, the one constant that I have experienced here is change.

True to that, we found out today that we are closing down this Disaster Response HQ and moving to another location, to allow the local Houston chapter of the Amercian Red Cross to use their disaster building for the needs from the immediate area.

I am taking a trip down to Galveston tomorrow to check out our shelter there and gather some information to allow it to run more efficiently. We consider Galveston to be a real hardship posting: no water, no sewer, etc, etc.... so I am hoping that at some point, I will be able to coax the volunteers down there to laugh with me.

Derrick Harvey
Canadian Red Cross in Houston, Texas