How do communities deal with colossal loss and disaster?

I am trying to make sense of where we really are now.

It is hard not to be angry when disaster strikes. You know in your bones there were ways to be better prepared. There are always ways to be better prepared.

Would we be happier creatures if we obsessed over preparedness the same way people obsess over wealth, beauty, fame, and power – particularly in LA? It is probably easier to grow better prepared than it is to advance on any of those other more prevalent pursuits – but we haven’t gone that way. Do we need to somehow make preparation sexier?

But really, why weren’t we better prepared? And not just this time, but all the times before? And you know we won’t be much better prepared for whatever is sure to come next. Were we fooling ourselves into thinking it couldn’t happen to us? Are we doing so again now? Or is it that even when we know inevitable disaster is coming, we are the arrogant sort that believes we can successfully challenge the troubles no matter their scale or shape?

But when disaster comes, how can we not just feel crushed, even a little foolish? If we couldn’t have stopped it, couldn’t we have limited the destruction? I felt that way after 9/11 and I felt that way during Hurricane Sandy. I left NYC and now I feel that way now during the never-ending LA Fires. It is a feeling that I think will now never leave us anymore — nor should it —, that is until we address some root causes.