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While Hurricane Michael was heading to Florida more than a week ago, Meg Baldwin has sunk in overdrive. As executive director of Refuge House, which works to end domestic violence in Big Bend, she had to make sure her organization was ready to deal with what it knew to be: more and more frequent to the hotline and a surge in the urgent need to protect themselves from survivors victims.
Baldwin's expectation did not come from nowhere. According to the World Health Organization, domestic violence continues, not just in Florida, but around the world. Violence can take many forms, from child abuse to sexual violence to intimate partner violence. People like Baldwin have seen everything before.
And as Panhandle residents are still in shock at Michael's destruction, there are already signs that the cycle of violence could be repeated.
"Weather events such as these and disasters, in general, are opportunities for abusers – abusers of domestic violence and perpetrators of sexual assault – to take advantage of survivors' limited access to resources. and also enjoy the isolation lived by the survivors, Baldwin told Earther. "This isolation becomes even more intense and provides an even greater opportunity for attackers to harm others."
A considerable number of phone calls were received before the storm in the eight counties of North Florida served by Refuge House, including the heavily affected counties of Wakulla and Gadsden, Baldwin said. People, especially women, were looking for immediate shelter (both the storm and their attacker), and the two emergency shelters in the House were overburdened as Hurricane Michael made landfall on October 10 in the form of a Category 4 storms. The centers housed more than 60 women in between, compared to the usual 35 to 40, Baldwin said. An addition of 20 people may seem little, but that is for this rural area.
"With the storm hitting these communities, it means that the already isolated victims are even more so. This means that the resources of the forces of order for their protection have been assigned to other needs. "
Escaping aggressors is essential in disasters, as studies show that violence is becoming more and more serious in past relationships. and Jennifer First, head of the Mental Health Program at the University of Missouri's Disaster and Community Crisis Center, has done extensive research in this area.
And you do not have to look far in the history books for proof. Take Hurricane Harvey, who hit Houston in August 2017. The number of domestic violence victims who sought help between the Katy Christian Ministries Crisis Center, which serves the Houston West area, more than doubled from 417 in 2017 to 1,025 this year. Sexual abuse reports received by the center nearly tripled, according to a report from the center published earlier this week.
For Hurricane Maria, the deadliest storm in modern American history, the situation has not improved much. The lack of power threatened the elderly and the sick who needed machines to heal themselves, but this darkness also left ill-treatment. Island survivors and victims are vulnerable, as reported by Refinery 29. After the storm, a local non-profit association, ESCAPE, saw its survivor-related service requests increase by 62%. A similar surge in domestic violence was documented after Hurricane Andrew of 1992, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
For some, these abuses can be fatal: nearly half of female homicide victims are killed by a current or former intimate partner, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the CDC, nearly one in five women and about one in seven men report experiencing severe physical abuse from an intimate partner during their lifetime. Women of color are particularly at risk.
Why? Many data stress stress.
"She may have less choice of housing," said First. "She may have less social support. These are all risks often associated with domestic violence.
After disasters like hurricanes strike, communities are more likely to suffer loss of employment, displacement, loss of housing and financial problems. This is especially true for communities of color and low-income neighborhoods already facing these inequities. (Michael has hit the poorest part of the state.) Even without natural disasters, housing and economic problems can increase the risk of domestic violence, First said. Throw a hurricane into the mix, and chaos can result.
"These communities, these families and these survivors were already very stressed before the storm came," Baldwin from Refuge House in Earther said. "People live really day by day, on the verge of meeting their basic needs, and it's a normal day. The storm that hits these communities means that the already isolated victims are even more so. This means that the resources of the forces of order for their protection have been assigned to other needs. "
States such as New Jersey and Missouri have begun to combat the outbreak of domestic violence that accompanies natural disasters by forming emergency response teams and increasing funding for victims of domestic violence, but much remains to be done, especially in the southern coastal communities facing these hurricanes. the most, says the first.
At least in the Florida Baldwin ward, his team at Refuge House goes door-to-door with relief agencies. The state brings food and water, and Refuge House brings the advice and solace that victims can look for during this tumultuous time.
They have been doing this for 10 years and remain in the field following Hurricane Michael. Victims and survivors needed immediate shelter early, but in the weeks and months ahead, they might need help finding permanent housing or protecting an abuser. .
As the data tells us, the danger can last a long time after the passage of a storm. These next few weeks are just the beginning.
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