Things Not To Do After A Disaster, From Kids Who Have Been There

The Northwest Minnesota Disaster Response Network is made up of several local agencies operating under a FEMA grant to serve the mental health needs of the community.

1. If you have to repaint your room, stay out of it for a couple of days or keep your windows open because the fumes can make you sick.
   
   
2. If you go back into your house (or any house) right after a flood wear a mask and gloves (or just do not touch anything if you don't have gloves...or just don't go until it is cleaned up, unless you really want to see it and/or help clean).
   
   
3. Do NOT steal things from deserted houses, or even from junk piles outside houses left from when people are cleaning up. (Stacy's story: "Someone took a toilet seat from inside our house. We had been planning to go back and get it, even though we knew that we couldn't live in the house anymore.")
   
   
4. Do NOT fish in your toilet (you probably won't catch anything).
   
   
5. If your house is over 50 percent damaged, do not assume you are going to get to move back in.
   
   
6. Do not think that you could never be in a flood, unless there is no body of water anywhere near you (even if you are in a 100 or 500 year flood plain)!
   
   
7. Do not think that a disaster is the worst thing that could happen to you because there probably could be worse, and things do get better once the disaster is over (but it takes a while)!