Threat of Hurricane Joaquin triggers anxiety, helplessness in Sandy survivors

While some Sandy survivors might face Joaquin with a sense of resiliency, others may feel frozen by helplessness, said a public health expert who studies how people respond to natural disasters. Watch video

Three years ago, Hurricane Sandy devastated parts of New Jersey, destroying thousands of homes while causing widespread hardship.

With the possibility of another hurricane bearing down on the Garden State, some Sandy survivors, still recovering from Sandy, again have to find a way to cope.

David Abramson studies how people rebound from disaster; his most recent study found that 14 percent of Sandy victims ended up with classic cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He's the director of the Program on Population Recovery and Resiliency at New York University. Here's a summary of an interview with him:

You've written before that a small portion of people can actually come out of a disaster more resilient.

They could feel better about themselves, that they could get through a challenge like that. That doesn't mean they would still be anxious and concerned about being exposed to a major flooding event.

But we also know there are some people who haven't completely recovered from Sandy. They're going to be thinking, 'I haven't even completed recovery from the last time! What happens if this washes over again and I have to start all over again?'

You studied the community response to Hurricane Katrina.  What did you see there about the ability to handle subsequent problems?

We went back into the field after Hurricane Gustave, in 2008, which was three years after Katrina, so the exact same time span between now and Sandy. We found that people were more vigilant, they were more likely to evacuate.

But there was also a small - but not insignificant percentage who didn't evacuate. Their attitude was, 'I already faced down Katrina, so maybe it can't happen again.'

That may prove to be a problem with Joaquin. Only about 30 percent of residents evacuated during Sandy; even less in the evacuation zones. So that means more than 75 percent did not - and not all of them suffered damage.

They may say, 'Look, we made it through Sandy, and we didn't get harmed.' So they might be very hard to convince to evacuation.

Others ended up with a kind of learned helplessness. People begin to feel that they don't have any control over events in their lives. It can potentially extend past hurricanes, to other aspects of their lives.

RELATED: Study reveals the hidden toll on Superstorm Sandy victims

What about children? How will the prospect of another hurricane affect them?

Children from three years old to eight will be incredibly concerned about their parents, about being separated from them.

Children between the ages of 8 and 12 or 13 are in a developmental stage where they start to feel they have some ability to do some things....but then they get overwhelmed.

Teenagers will be having many different feelings. It can be challenging for them, because they want to be treated like adults, but they get swept up and treated like little kids. 

You're not a therapist, but do you have any advice for Sandy victims as they await Joaquin?

To the extent that people feel they can control their destiny, by marshaling their resources, the better they'll feel. They can't prevent a hurricane from happening, but at least they can get food, have a communications plan, get gas in the car, get cash. That usually goes a long way.

But if they get creamed a second time, that's going to be devastating - on their finances, on their relationships. 

A lot of people spent a lot of time and energy and money dealing with the recovery experience, so they know what it took. So when they envision having to go through that again, it's very draining. It's not one thing; it's all those things.