Practical advice for victims of the LA wildfires

Humanitarian architect and post-disaster reconstruction expert Cameron Sinclair, who lost his house in the ongoing wildfires in LA, shares practical advice for people in a similar position.

The week before last, I was in London for meetings with our Ukraine rebuilding team but paying close attention to wildfire alerts coming from Southern California. Within hours, friends and neighbors' homes were up in flames and the Palisades were ablaze.

The next day, our land was engulfed and everything on it is now ashes. By the weekend, my social media was a stream of friends posting what was left of their homes. It has been heartbreaking to watch from afar.

It's crucial to address the aftermath with integrity, transparency and vigilance against opportunistic practices

The devastation in Los Angeles serves as a stark reminder of the challenges all climate-vulnerable communities face. It's crucial to address the aftermath with integrity, transparency and vigilance against opportunistic practices and government inefficiency.

In advocating for ethical rebuilding practices, it's essential to guard against disaster capitalism. Corruption, self-serving interests and profiteering must not overshadow the genuine efforts to restore and uplift affected communities.

The number one question I've received is: so what do we do now?

This week, it falls on the incoming Trump administration and governor Newsom to put politics aside and work for the greater good. It is my hope that the same division that sits inside the architecture and construction industry can put aside grievances to come together for those in need.

After 30 years of working in post-disaster reconstruction, the number one question I've received is "so what do we do now?". Below is an attempt to answer that question in three stages. Special thanks to additional input from friends and former rebuilding colleagues:

Immediate response

• Don't wait for help: buy sturdy shovels, masks (to protect from dropped retardant), boots and gloves.
• Figure out your loss: write a personal property list, writing down anything and everything you remember in notes. Organize by each room.
• Save receipts: beyond the big things, insurance companies may cover incidental loss too – phone chargers, etc.
• Create an important documents list: if any were lost, prioritize getting replacements (IDs, insurance cards, passports, wills, safe deposit keys).
• Kindness of strangers: when you buy things, tell the store owner your situation. Humans are inherently kind and will help where they can.
• Kindness of friends: let your friends help you. This one is hard as we all have pride, but this is going to be an overwhelming process.
• Stop the charging: call all of your utilities and either freeze or cancel service. They will continue to bill you regardless!
• Get storage: chances are you'll end up with a bunch of things before transitional housing or permanent housing is available.
• Register for emergency housing: Airbnb.org, American Express and Hilton are working with 211LA to provide shelter for displaced families.

Short-term challenges

• Register with all the agencies (FEMA and state) and large aid organizations.
• Call homeowners' insurance to trigger Loss of Use. This will also get the ball rolling for the insurance claim on your home and rebuilding process.
• Contact your mortgage holder to look into forbearance while you deal with insurance and rebuilding plans.
• Search for a long-term rental. Insurance companies can make payments directly using your Loss of Use money. Plan on renting for two years, not months. Don't settle for the cheapest or easiest as insurance companies should cover "like property". Make sure that the insurance company doesn't try to reduce your settlement by subtracting the rent.
• Get a PO box and use the address on the many, many, many forms you will fill out.
• Figure out permits for debris removal, erosion control, temporary power, trailer on site (yes, you need all of them!).
• Find your tribe: this is going to be a stressful, gut-wrenching, anxiety-inducing experience. You'll need others who are also going through the same process.
• Beware of fake contractors, insurance scam artists and agency representatives.

Long-term challenges (mostly relevant for built-environment professionals)

• Support a locally developed coalition for long-term reconstruction. Los Angeles will need more than a handful of well-meaning architects; the affected cities (and unincorporated areas) need a highly coordinated coalition of building professionals that can dedicate their time and expertise to a myriad of projects. Associations, institutions and academia need to work together to ensure that there is equitable and highly distributed support for all affected communities. Japan did this very well, allowing groups like Home for All to be independent and work alongside national efforts. Fortunately, I have heard of at least three local groups forming. Hopefully a galvanizing force and strong philanthropy can bring these teams together.
• Create community-based anchors: In affected regions, organizations should partner with building professionals to set up rebuilding resource centers that will supply architecture and engineering services to community groups, NGOs, and social entrepreneurs on the ground.
• Provide building expertise: provide teams of architectural and construction professionals to develop and build community facilities, including schools and medical centers. These teams should be local and regional, with some international support. The full-time staff must also have a unique knowledge of disaster mitigation and long-term sustainable development.
• Build a construction workforce: train and educate incoming volunteers and community members in building safely, emphasizing the need for sustainable materials and construction techniques. It's not about just building homes, but jobs.
• Develop a resilient housing manual and distribute lessons learned: develop and distribute a simple and concise rebuilding manual. If we only share "best practices" we never really adapt and learn. We should also include sections on "what not to do" and materials to avoid.
• Build schools: in long-term rebuilding, we work with coalition partners to design, develop, and implement community and civic structures. Beyond the basic human right to give children access to education, if they don't have a place to go, parents can't work, and there is no economic stability. Schools are the focal point in community recovery.
• Safe, secure, and sustainable housing: it is our job to build homes that are not only safe but incorporate the needs, desires and dreams of the families that will live in them. Additionally, we are not just building a roof over someone's head, we are building equity. Through the reconstruction process, we can support better building codes by building tangible examples of what the future will look like.
• There is no single solution to responding to crises or prescribed answer to a community need. By designing and building highly adaptable solutions that are relevant to the context and involve the community as a partner, we can build a strong resilient future.
• The fires in LA give a unique opportunity. Given the broad range in wealth, unlike other disasters, there is a chance to invest in innovative immediate, transitional and long-term sustainable housing. Natural building, passive housing, shotcrete domes, monolithic cast prefab, concrete panel domes, 3D-printed housing and earth-bermed housing are all ideas worth exploring when coupled with a design review board process.
• Support social entrepreneurs and job creation: in many of our previous post-disaster programs we worked with women's empowerment groups and artisans to help rebuild their facilities, speeding up job creation and the ability to distribute micro-loans. LA is the same. There are a myriad of small home businesses, artisans and artists that fall through the cracks.
• Share everything: if your focus is social change not financial gain, it is only truly innovative if it is shared. By connecting with other NGOs and open sourcing construction documents, we can influence many building programs in the region. We can leave a legacy of innovative, locally appropriate solutions to protect from future disasters.
• Be alert for disaster capitalism: It will take a decade to rebuild LA and there will be a litany of insurance scams, contractor scams, speculative real estate vultures and self-serving institutions. For professionals in the design and building sphere, I urge a very cautious approach regarding support for the national office of the American Institute of Architects. Direct contributions to local chapters and grassroots initiatives are a more impactful and transparent assistance to those in need. Working closely with the community and supporting local efforts can make a significant difference in the rebuilding process.

Cameron Sinclair is an adjunct professor teaching about post-disaster reconstruction at the University of Buffalo and founder of the Worldchanging Institute, an Arizona-based research organisation focused on architectural and design solutions to humanitarian crises. He also advises family foundations and NGOs on responding to disasters.

The photo is by Cameron Sinclair.

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