For Salvation Army captain, hurricane was an eye-opener

By Bryan McKenzie

Published: October 26, 2008

Buildings washed to rubble. People sleeping in cars outside the ruined wreckage of their mud-filled, waterlogged homes. For Dan Matthews, the harsh reality of Hurricane Ike hammered home some valuable lessons.

The Salvation Army captain recently returned from storm-shattered Galveston, Texas, where he helped feed, house and care for the multitudes left homeless in the wake of storm-driven floodwaters.

“It was just devastation,” he said, recalling his trip onto the island with the first wave of returning residents. “It’s never going to be the same and it will be years before it gets back to any semblance of what it was. The storm surge was 10 feet deep in some places and the power of the water coming in and going out just reduced buildings to nothing.”

The short list

Ike was not Capt. Matthews’ first disaster. In fact, the Charlottesville-based captain is on the army’s short-list of folks to send between rocks and hard places. He served at the Pentagon and World Trade Center sites after Sept. 11 and offered aid after a variety of Florida hurricanes, as well as Hurricane Katrina.

“When you’re surrounded by so much devastation and sorrow, it can affect you,” he said. “When you’re trying to help people who have lost everything, sometimes even family members, it can be, well, depressing.”

Discovered truths

He discovered Ike was no different. The weeks he spent arranging housing, food and services for the flood-battered residents reminded him of several truths he’d learned in other disasters.

First, if the spirit — or the National Weather Service — tells you to move, do it and do it fast.

“If the government or the weather service tells you to get out, you know it’s going to be bad,” he said. “They take it very seriously and they debate whether to order evacuations or not. When they tell you to go, it’s best to follow their advice.”

Second, don’t worry about your property. Property means nothing compared to staying alive, so that you can mourn its loss.

“There were people sleeping in their cars and they had every possession they could salvage packed in that car with them, parked in front of where their homes used to be,” he recalled. “But when they came to us for food or help, they said the same thing. They said they lost everything but they were still grateful to be alive. Property can be replaced, but you cannot.”

Third, and perhaps the most important, is to remember to take care of yourself.

“When you’re in a stressful situation, whether you’ve lost everything or trying to help people, everyone and everything pulls at you,” he said. “You’re worried, you’re thinking, you’re reacting all of the time, and when you’re that stressed, you tend to not sleep well or long. You don’t eat right. You don’t drink enough water or exercise and you wear yourself down fast,” Capt. Matthews said.

“You have to remember to take care of yourself,” he said. “If you don’t, you won’t be able to help yourself or others.”