Unseen Tragedies, How the Media Portrays Disasters

Billionaire beach is burning! News helicopters whirr above the charred skeletons of $10 million mansions in Malibu. Live news feeds display the ruins of homes of celebrities and executives in the affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood, and the tragedy is near ubiquitously known. Videos showing the fires have spread on social media while countless articles have detailed the tragic events, including a list of the most famous houses destroyed by the fire and a story on an investor who only got a $3 million insurance payout on his $27 million mansion—what a tragedy! People across the world have expressed their grief and condolences for the Pacific Palisades fire and rightfully so, but less than 20 miles north of Los Angeles, another deadly fire rages in Eaton Canyon. This fire has burned nearly 15,000 acres and destroyed 7,000 structures (2,000 more than the Palisades fire), but has a mere fraction of the media coverage. 

The media largely controls the gaze of public opinion, especially on matters as tragic as natural disasters. From scrolling on Instagram and Tiktok or even watching legacy media, one would not know that over the past year, the United States has experienced over 27 climate related disasters. The small number of these events that have been reported on have been long forgotten by the media and the public. When tornadoes struck the American Midwest in May of 2024, destroying properties and farmland, almost no one batted an eye. Disasters that are less glamorous, ones that destroy modest homes and farms instead of megamansions, don’t get coverage, even when fatal. 

Even those few disasters that do get reported on often quickly fall out of favor. In September, when Hurricane Helene struck the southeastern United States, the media was briefly captivated by intense and dramatic images of flooded streets in Florida and trees whipped by wind in the Carolinas. After a few days, though, people got bored. The focus of the media shifted to the next microtrend, while the impacts of the disaster lingered, leaving Appalachia flooded for weeks after landfall and people still grappling with the losses of the disaster months later, completely unbeknownst to the vast majority of Americans. 

The lack of attention for the Eaton fires correlates to a comparative lack of aid. In the aftermath of the Los Angeles fire, celebrities donated millions of dollars out of their own pockets for relief to the Pacific Palisades, and FEMA quickly came in with a relief package. In Eaton Canyon, the situation is far different. Despite being just a 20 minute drive away, Eaton is a different world from the Pacific Palisades as the mansions fade to small bungalows and flats and celebrities turn to teachers and tradesmen. The citizens of Eaton Canyon, in the midst of a disaster that’s left many homeless, are afraid of being overlooked when it comes to the allocation of aid. They worry that organizations tasked with softening the blow of disasters will leave them hanging, and their worry is founded—Jocelyn Tavares, a resident of Altadena, a suburb impacted by the Eaton blaze, reported that during the height of the fires, “we didn't get help here. I don’t know where everybody was.”

The issue of aid misallocation dates back decades, and there’s no greater example than FEMA’s handling of Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters of the 21st century. The general response by FEMA was completely botched, from meaninglessly carting millions of dollars of ice to unimpacted areas to turning down volunteer doctors. Worst of all, FEMA shortchanged low income communities as poorer locations received aid that was frequently delayed or in some cases, no aid at all. After their lack of response in the midst of disaster, FEMA also fumbled the relief effort after the storm had subsided. While thousands of homes were left ruined, FEMAs housing assistance program ironically granted 10% more housing assistance per family to families making over $75,000 yearly than the lowest tax bracket. 

The dichotomy between the Palisades and Eaton Canyon fires this January is an example of a much broader problem where the government mishandles aid to low income families, and the ill-informed public is unable to step in. Media coverage impacts people’s understanding of the existence and extent of natural disasters. If people aren’t fully aware, they’re unable to send their own support or, perhaps more importantly, try to persuade the government and other organizations to send aid. Historically, when people are more organized and aware, they can have a positive impact on disaster relief. In the wake of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, hashtags like #HoustonStrong and #HarveyRelief spread independently raised $10 million for victims. Considering government missteps, without this sort of grassroots organizing, the most marginalized communities in America are left to the dire consequences of disaster. These are communities who lack storm resistant infrastructure, escape routes from disaster, and safety nets for economic recovery in the aftermath. 

In a unique era where over half of the American population gets some news from social media and 70 percent use social media in some capacity, almost anyone has an opportunity to spread information and raise awareness about things they care about today. A single post by a high school student could garner thousands or millions of views, and in a situation like a natural disaster, one post could save a life. Considering that natural disasters result in over 420 fatalities and nearly $65 billion in damages yearly in the U.S., it is imperative that everybody takes steps to rectify the attention deficit for natural disasters in marginalized areas. Whether that means reposting a video offering resources for a hurricane or signing an online petition for disaster relief, these social media campaigns can spill up to traditional media by showing that people care about and want to see more diverse coverage of natural disasters in the traditional news cycle.