When Disaster Strikes
There are no words to describe the devastation and helplessness that follow a natural disaster.
How does one begin to cope, let alone recover?
In the fall of 2022, I self-published a picture book about a determined little gecko who stops at nothing to get a taste of ice cream. It takes place in the ice cream shop my husband and I owned at the time in downtown Lahaina, Hawaii.
In August 2023, the wildfire came. It ravaged the entire town of Lahaina. A hundred people perished in its wake, over 2200 homes were destroyed, and lives upended. Devastated does not even begin to describe how we all felt—how we still feel. We would later find out that the rest of the world shared our sorrow.
I will share here my experience and learnings in the aftermath of this disaster. Perhaps they will help others in this predicament.
Silver Lining
The fire turned the ice cream shop, and most of the other locations in which I sold my book, into unrecognizable piles of ash. It burned 75% of my newly published books, along with the paintings and art supplies that had been stored in my art studio. And yet, I knew I was lucky to still have my home, lucky to be unhurt.
Community
Growing up in a military family and attending 5 different elementary schools in 6 years taught me to establish friendships quickly and to create my community wherever I went.
The night of the fire we gave shelter to three friends who were forced to escape the flames on foot. They had walked six miles to our home in north Lahaina, carrying whatever they could. For the next couple of weeks our tiny one-bedroom condo became a hub of activity as friends and neighbors gathered to exchange information. The first five nights we talked by candlelight, trying to discern fact from fiction of what we'd heard from others. Everyone contributed something. During the day we would scatter and help as best we could. There were many stories like ours on the island, of people helping each other.
Comfort
As a child, one thing that warmed my heart was when my parents read to us. It didn’t matter if I was old enough to read to myself. What mattered was the precious little time spent cuddling on the sofa with my siblings, my mom or dad, and a good book. That early feeling of comfort is what has inspired me to write and illustrate for children.
We heard the local prep school was sheltering displaced families and taking donations. We packed up some clothing and supplies, and I looked around for anything else I could contribute. My eyes landed on my collection of children’s books. I knew the younger kids at the shelter would be getting antsy, older kids might be anxious, and their parents would be worried. “Stories can be a temporary escape...” I thought, “...take a person out of themselves for a little while.” Reading together would also provide much needed cuddle time. We packed the books into the car, including a few of the remaining copies of my picture book.
Upon arriving at the school’s drop-off for the shelter, I handed the bags of books to one of the organizers. “Oh, wonderful!”, she said. “I have a few kids who have been asking for books!” I imagined parents and children getting lost in the stories and hoped, even if just for a little while, those books gave them what mattered most in uncertain times: a feeling of comfort.
Learning to Cope
A few months after the disaster, things still feel raw. The sense of loss is immense. People sometimes describe it as a war zone—but a war zone usually has piles of rubble and parts of buildings still intact. Because so many of the structures were built of wood, there are only a few concrete walls and ash remaining. We are making decisions we never thought we would have to make. There is no choice – one has to keep moving forward, knowing and accepting that things will never be the same.
We are coping by doing what we can, turning anger and loss into action so that this kind of devastation does not happen again.
Bittersweet
Things will be painful for some time to come after a disaster of this magnitude, but as a community, we know we will laugh and hope and dream again. We can’t rebuild what we lost, but day by day, we are beginning to build a vision of a new Lahaina that is respectful of its people (kanaka), the land (aina), and the water (wai and kai).
Aloha.
Lisa Downey
Lisa moved to Lahaina in 2013 with her husband and sweet kitty. They bought an ice cream shop and, since it was right next to the famous Banyan Tree, called it BanyanTreats. Lisa now devotes her time to writing and illustrating children’s books.
Lisa received a BS in Art Education from SUNY College at Buffalo and a BFA in Packaging and Advertising Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She has designed and illustrated a number of books for Arbordale Publishing, and illustrated and co-authored The Pirates of Plagiarism for Demco. Moo Wants Ice Cream! is Lisa’s first self-published picture book.
A portion of profits from the sale of Lisa’s book goes toward putting books in the hands of Lahaina’s children, and to help plant trees all over the world.
