Hurricane IOTA Category 5 hits the San Andres, Colombia 

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

DONATIONS: PHASE I - SURVIVAL KIT

• Non-perishable foods such as: water, rice, pasta, oil, lentils, beans, chickpeas, peas, canned (tuna and sardines), wheat flour, corn flour, nuts.
• ​Ready-to-eat foods: individually packaged products that do not require refrigeration (such as 200ml UHT liquid milk) or that do not require preparation.
• Clothing for all population groups (new only).
  
• Personal hygiene kits (soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, sanitary towels, toilet paper, diapers).
  
• Community kitchen basics (utensils). 
  
• Sleeping supplies (sheets, pillows, blankets, foam mattress).
  
• Bio-safety supplies (alcohols pads, masks, antibacterial gel).
  
• Plastic pallets.
  

---

HUMANITARIAN AID

DONATIONS: PHASE II - PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT

• Eliminate or reduce the probability of suffering, physical or psychological harm.
  
• Avoid or reduce fear and grief.
  
• Priority care to the most vulnerable groups (women, children, the elderly).
  
• Perform triage of affected persons and their mental state.
  
• Facilitate the expression of experiences and emotions.
  
• Reduce stress from psychological threats and cognitive distortions that victims may have.
  
• Increase cognitive awareness.
• Activate the ability to cope.
  
• Reduce the feeling of anomaly or marginality.
  
• Prepare for possible adverse reactions that may arise in the future.
  

My memory leads me to remember hurricane Charley's experience in 2004, when it hit Central Florida.  Hurricane Charley was the strongest hurricane to strike Florida since Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the most powerful storm to strike southwest Florida since Hurricane Donna in 1960.
Feeling how the gusts of wind whip the walls of the house, which is at that moment the only safe and protective place, begins by generating states of anxiety, and as the hours pass they turn into real states of panic. The natural instinct of survival leads us to look for objects inside the house to help us get some tranquility, that is how the windows begin to be covered by improvised barriers made of objects that days ago had only decorative or comfort value. Fear takes hold and it makes us act erratically, we can only think of survival as our goal. The blood flows and the heart seems to burst. Survival is the goal.
Being the main actor in moments of tragedy is the cause of many of the misunderstandings and mistakes of the present moment that lead us to investigate and pay attention to the wounds of the past that are not yet erased, since the calm comes loaded with many doubts, emptiness, despair . Natural disasters put us in front of the difficult task, crucial to all human beings, to live, to coexist.
Disasters affect the emotional balance of people and communities, with psychological and psychiatric disorders being the most frequent. That is why our organization Global Family Support, thinking about social welfare, is aware of the urgent need to carry out timely and rapid interventions that help mitigate these disorders, and prevent them from becoming chronic. We have the support of a multidisciplinary team, crucial at this time to improve individual psychodynamic conditions, which will allow people to continue living, thus leaving nature itself to carry out a self-healing process.
One of the psychopathological consequences of disasters is the post-traumatic stress syndrome that arises in the medium and long term in the victims and their families. This is usually accompanied by pictures of alcoholism, anxiety and depression, which can trigger psychiatric behaviors, which usually have considerable comorbidity marked by hospitalizations, loss of employment and drastic changes in interpersonal relationships.
That is why it is important to undertake early and rapid preventive psychotherapeutic care during the crisis itself, to prevent the social and emotional consequences of the traumatic experience.