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See my top level post, but I’ve been through it. A couple of quick answers.

It’s hard to understand how overwhelming it is to suddenly loose every single material possession. And you’re spot on. Dealing with all the paperwork and agencies like FIMA and insurance companies. If you have the ability to help someone out in these areas it could be really helpful. Unfortunately it’s hard, and most of the “dealing” has to be done by the victims.

So, the point of the article is what can you do so help in the immediate where you have people you know suddenly have to replace literally everything. The spatulas and boxes may seem silly, but when you’re dealing with so many things at one time, even small stuff taken off your plate is helpful. For example, the first night I finally went to go to bed and hadn’t even thought to pick up a toothbrush and I was too overwhelmed to deal with it and actually broke down in tears!

Prevention tips? Well for the Oakland firestorm or the Colorado fires there’s not much to prevent. All I can say is do an inventory of your home and determine what you’d really miss if it were gone. Put those things close together so you can grab them in a minute. Or make sure you have copies. Cloud photo storage definitely makes a big difference. If you have old photos, make digital copies.