Here's the text of an email sent me today by a friend who works in disaster relief and long term recovery efforts. Thought Dave's perspective on what's going on in Lewis County (and other flood areas) is instructive. I witnessed exactly the second disaster thing in the Gulf Coast a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck, where entire semi-truck convoys had arrived stuffed with used clothing, at least half of it rags. The "generosity" of others ended up creating an enormous solid waste disposal problem.

In case it hasn't been clear from all the media accounts and press releases over the past couple of weeks, please consider from this point on an absolute embargo, prohibition, ban, whatever on any donations of clothing or household items of any kind, especially to Lewis County.

The donations issue has created a major crisis in Centralia and Chehalis in particular. In the disaster relief/response community, this is typically called the "disaster that follows the disaster." I'm not at liberty to hare all that I know about the extent of the problem politically or among the voluntary agencies in Lewis County, but the bottom line is "no donations, period."

With respect to the donations of building materials and folks attempting to insulate, sheetrock and move back in to their homes ASAP, please also know that FEMA, the State and WIDRO members have great concerns about houses not being sufficiently dried out and ready to re-rock. There is a high likelihood that many of these homes will show high rates of mold, sheetrock efflorescence, and other related problems within just a few months, or at least during the coming year. There is also concern that those who will experience that further crisis some months down the road may blame or even attempt to sue government and/or the voluntary agencies for (1) providing the materials and/or (2) failing to insist on best practices (like a
instrument-tested dry-out) when it comes to restoring homes after a disaster like this.

I apologize if some of the above is a "downer" but it reflects a lot of the discussions I have been party to over the last few weeks at the Joint Field Office (FEMA, State, WAVOAD) in Lacey. Any delay in helping people back to better situation is undeniably painful, but we all also share a responsibility for helping folks to realistic expectations about the timing of recovery. Wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars of donated or purchased building materials, carpeting, etc., in too hasty a rebuilding process will not help restore these communities in the long run.