What Happens Psychologically When We Lose Everything In a Natural Disaster?

If you think the fires happening in California won’t impact you because you live far away, think again. Here’s why.

Imagine the very home you’re reading this in right now... is gone in mere seconds. There’s no time to say goodbye. No time for a final glance or nostalgic reflection before closing the front door. It’s a reality so incomprehensible, it’s hard to even picture in your mind.

We watch the devastation of the California fires: The Palisades and Eaton unfold with a mixture of awe and disbelief, glued to our screens, piecing together information to help us make sense of it in our state of helplessness. We often seek control through repetition—replaying the same images, looking for something we can hold onto while we process our own blend of emotions.

But what happens to us psychologically when we go from having everything to losing everything? One moment you’re in a warm bed the next homeless. The emotional journey is beyond words. And let’s be clear: it’s not just about fires. This is true for all natural disasters, like Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, the destruction in Florida, and more.

Curious, I sought to understand the emotional journey of disaster survivors. The need for this type of research is exploding with the rise in natural disasters across the world.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), there are 6 distinct mental and emotional phases of a disaster that survivors may experience.

1. Pre-Disaster Phase:

This phase is characterized by fear and uncertainty. It can last only a few minutes when disasters strike without warning or stretch over months if a threat lingers. People often feel exposed and helpless, unable to shield themselves or their loved ones.

2. Impact Phase:

The impact phase is the shortest and occurs when the disaster hits. People experience overwhelming emotions such as shock, fear, and disbelief. These are often followed by a primal focus on protecting oneself or one’s family.

3. Heroic Phase:

Directly after the disaster, heightened adrenaline and selflessness drive rescue efforts. Community members may take extraordinary actions to help others, sometimes without fully assessing risks. This phase is short-lived but demonstrates the courage and generosity of human spirit.

4. Honeymoon Phase:

During the weeks following the disaster, a sense of optimism and togetherness emerges. Communities often rally, finding strength in shared purpose. This is also a key period for offering aid and building pathways to recovery.

5. Disillusionment Phase:

This phase, often the most challenging and prolonged, can last months or even years. Survivors begin to confront the difficulties of rebuilding, often feeling drained, stressed, and abandoned. Mental health struggles may intensify, especially around significant reminders like anniversaries of the disaster.

6. Reconstruction Phase:

Starting roughly a year after the disaster and sometimes extending for years, this phase focuses on rebuilding lives and adapting to a new reality. The process involves both progress and mourning as survivors come to terms with their losses while striving to move forward.

Natural disasters take more than homes and belongings.

They strip away communities, routines, even the “fracquaintances”—those people who aren’t quite friends but aren’t just acquaintances either. This loss goes beyond the material. It’s a loss of self-identity and of a way of life. Survivors are not only dealing with their own PTSD, but also the collective trauma of the community, vicarious trauma amongst friends/families, and multilayered grief; a deep soul grief.

It encompasses the grief of losing a way of life including:

• the death of a home where memories were made, a place that once provided safety and familiarity, and structure for routine.
• It involves mourning the loss of things or experiences that were once taken for granted but have proven to be more important than anticipated once they are gone,
• the sorrow of never feeling like the same person again, as the loss has permanently altered one’s sense of self and soul.
• It extends to grieving the shared loss that others—family, friends, or the wider community—are also experiencing.
• Ultimately, it is the grief of losing not just what was, but also the illusion of controlling your life destiny, as everything that once felt stable and predictable is now uncertain.

Grief in general is like having the carpet pulled from underneath you. But for this, there are no words.

When dreams—whether material or emotional—go up in flames, it’s an invasion of the soul. The heart feels it in an existential way. It’s simply heartbreaking.

For those seeking the science behind the psychological impact, a recent study by Isaac et al. (2023) examined the effects of wildfire exposure on anxiety, insomnia, and trauma symptoms in participants from Australia, the U.S., and Canada. Here’s a summary:

• Wildfire exposure led to increased symptoms of anxiety, insomnia, and trauma.
• U.S. participants reported the highest severity of symptoms.
• Women showed higher rates of PTSD.

And then there’s the involuntary relocation that survivors must face. Moving is stressful enough on its own. But imagine having to do it under the shock of a disaster—without the ability to process or plan ahead. The emotional toll is compounded by dealing with insurance companies, financial loss, and other logistical hurdles, all of which add to the mental and emotional strain.

While Los Angeles feels the burn of these fires, the ripple effect will extend far beyond, just like all the other natural disasters and world events before it. It will impact not just us today and in this year of 2025, it will forever be woven into generational trauma experiences too- passed on from one family member to another. The butterfly effect isn’t just in real time, it'll be historically.

The road to resilience may seem unpaved right now, but it will ultimately serve as a testament to human strength. We will rise, rebuild, and create new dreams from the rubble. We have been doing that for centuries. It’s in the very fabric of being human.