A&M insurance expert says it will take ‘decades’ to rebuild after California wildfires

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Just days since wildfires began to rage across the Los Angeles area, 10 people were confirmed dead, and more than 10,000 homes and other buildings have been completely destroyed.

Bạn đang xem: A&M insurance expert says it will take ‘decades’ to rebuild after California wildfires

Michelle Meyer, director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center at Texas A&M, told KBTX that people whose homes were destroyed can start reaching out to insurance now.

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“They can get immediate money to cover hotels at this time, as well as start filling out the paperwork to get additional money from FEMA to do the rebuilding process,” she explained.

Mitigation of damage for firefighters is going to be difficult, according to Meyer, because of the strong winds in the area.

“As strong as they have been in California this week, that would be a very large space that you’d have to defend against to prevent sparks from crossing it,“ said Meyer. ”The mitigation aspect was a big challenge and I’m not sure that they could have fully prevented considering the environmental conditions they have.”

For those affected, Meyer said they are not wealthy but public perception of Los Angeles does affect the philanthropic response.

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“For those individuals who don’t have homes, or don’t have wildfire insurance, they’re going to rely on nonprofits and philanthropic funders and those types of donations. If we think it happened to a lot of millionaires, we’re probably not going to send our $50 or $100 to a nonprofit to help rebuild. Whereas if we see a community that’s really struggling, a working-class community, we’re more likely to donate to that disaster,” Meyer shared.

The rebuild is expected to take decades.

“I mean, Hurricane Katrina was over 10 years to recover from. So, we’re looking at a 10 to 15 to 20-year process, and especially vulnerable populations,” added Meyer. “It might be too expensive if they’ve paid off their mortgage and have been living there for 30 to 40 years. They might have to move somewhere else and rebuild there.”

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