“I just want to go home,” has become the theme song for this whole experience of evacuation rollercoastering.
I am included in the story, which is really a change.
When I went to school we were taught not to make the news, just report it, but this is a unique situation.
The media has played a significant role in evacuee discomfort, I must say. Not only do I constantly hear about the media coverage, but also I experience it myself.
I have dropped some publications from my phone now because of stories that are pure speculation about La Ronge not escaping unscathed, and our economy devastated.
I haven’t read past the headlines on these stories, and won’t. But evacuees are suffering increased anxiety over these stories, and it’s harder to try to get the correct information to give them/us some bit of reassurance and hope in this very rollercoastering-type situation.
I have never been a fan of sensationalist journalism and I am following this story very closely in its many shades, so I know there is no shortage of opportunities for stories.
For example, a call I received one night involved hearing that the fires were all contained around La Ronge and that people would be going home right away. I think that actually, the story was that the fire lines were holding around the communities. However, they were not contained, and the circulation of wrong information seemed to come from a mixture of people jumping to conclusions, and that the stories weren’t clear.
People are anxious, in shock, and a myriad of other feelings, which causes information to be processed a little differently as well.
Everyone wants to go home. It’s as simple as that, and we jump to conclusions about that one minute and fear we will never see home again the next – the emotional rollercoaster.
For many of us, our days are spent in lineups to get registrations, to buy groceries, to get our vouchers authorized and so on.
We also meet each other in the grocery lineups, and then it’s time for a catch-up visit and to share, “I just want to go home,” accompanied by a hug.
It makes people at little testy, to say the least, even though we know people are just doing their job.
For most of us nothing is familiar.
I am beginning to become very testy about lining up. We experience lineups wherever we go. We line up for registration with Red Cross every three days. Then we go for supplies and line up — sometimes three times — in that process. I noticed I had a bit of road rage the other day and realized it was because I was in another lineup and someone was blocking the line, so we had a longer wait.
I hear from people, as I said at the beginning, just wanting to go home. I’ve met people in lines who say they are just going home. It’s just too lonely here in the city.
We heard a report of someone having to be rescued and causing disruption in the firefighting operations. It’s hard not to think, okay, I’ll just head out.
Some people are taking advantage of the situation.
I met some women who thought they would make the best of the weekend. Laughing, they said they would take in all the garage sales in the city on the weekend.
Others travel when they have a chance, and some are taking advantage of the time to spend time with their children who are now out of school.
It’s a mixed bag, this evacuee rollercoastering.
Valerie Barnes-Cornell, a reporter at the La Ronge Northerner, was evacuated along with all residents of the community earlier this week. Both The Reminder and the Northerner are Glacier Media publications.
