If You've Been Affected By A Natural Disaster, Share Your Advice For People Affected By The LA Fires

It's difficult to comprehend what is happening in Southern California with the history-making wildfires that continue destroying hundreds of homes and businesses.

Since Tuesday night, almost 200,000 residents of the greater Los Angeles area have been forced to evacuate, leaving their homes and belongings behind, hoping and praying for the best.

I'm turning to our BuzzFeed Community to ask those who have lived through a natural disaster — hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes — what advice can you share with our community in LA that might be useful for them in the coming days?

Maybe you had the very unfortunate experience of having your home burned down in a fire, and you learned that the average time to rebuild houses was around 2 years, so maybe people should prepare for this process to take a lot of time.

Perhaps your advice is to prioritize safety during cleanup, like using PPE (personal protective equipment) to minimize health risks from toxic materials.

Or maybe you learned to be wary of contractors and handypeople who might try to take advantage of people in vulnerable situations. Do your due diligence and check them out before hiring them to ensure they aren't shady and licensed.

Whatever words of wisdom and advice you could offer to people suffering from these fires, please do so in this anonymous form or in the comments below.