Photo: San Juan County Sheriff’s Office (via official press release, Sept. 13, 2025)

Plus it's National Preparedness Month

Welcome back to This Week in Disasters! This newsletter combines expert perspectives with a weekly roundup of upcoming threats, recent natural disasters, and available survivor assistance. If you’re an HR, Risk, Employee Assistance, or Emergency Management professional (or you’re just really curious about disasters in the United States!) you’re in the right place.

Before we dive in, a request for National Preparedness Month: send us your top tip for helping your employees or constituents take action to prepare before disaster strikes. We’ll share a roundup next week!

Southern California Edison is Offering Eaton Fire Survivors Hundreds of Thousands

Southern California Edison has outlined how much it intends to pay survivors of last year’s Eaton fire:

• compensation packages may exceed $1 million for destroyed homes

• there are separate categories for property loss, rebuilding costs, and emotional suffering

While SCE maintains it is not admitting fault, this proposed payout could offer a significant step toward financial recovery for many families.

Survivors should review details carefully and consider professional guidance before making decisions on claims. Read More...

Major Disasters of the Last Week

Photo: San Bernardino County Fire (SBCoFD) Official Twitter/X Account

Forecasted Risks for Next Week

Multi-day thunderstorm and flooding threat this weekend across the Midwest and Plains

Extreme heat risk in Lower Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys, Southeast, and eastern Southern Plains

Rapid Onset Drought (ROD) developing in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia

Disasters in the Headlines

FEMA Staffing Shortages Could Mean Disaster for Future Response Efforts

US Government Accountability Office

This is Peak Hurricane Season. Or is it?

The New York Times

Magnitude 7.8 earthquake hits Russia; tsunami advisory issued, then canceled

USA Today

PRO PERSPECTIVE

Responsive Leadership in a Crisis

At this year’s Responsive Conference, experts Marta Riggins and Craig Forman guided attendees through a practical approach to shifting from knee-jerk reactivity to responsive leadership. Key takeaways included: 

• Responsiveness is an architecture.

• Plan in advance: “You never build your support groups during a crisis.”

• Aim to collect data -> understand the implications -> only then, act

Marta and Craig have generously shared one key framework from their talk with This Week in Disasters: stakeholder mapping.

By doing the work to deeply understand your full range of stakeholder groups before a crisis, you can more effectively respond in the moment.

If your organization is interested in digging deeper into this methodology, please reach out to Marta and Craig.

Active Federal Major Disasters

There is usually a 60 day window to apply for help after a disaster is declared.  The following disasters are still actively taking applications from survivors for financial support.

The following disasters are actively taking applications from survivors for financial support. To apply, survivors can visit DisasterAssistance.gov or call the FEMA Helpline at 1-800‑621‑3362.

Sign up for This Week in Disasters here.

Need more support for your employees or constituents? Bright Harbor can help.