From editorial director of news Kate Shellnutt: Disaster stories capture our attention. Shots of devastation from major floods, tornadoes, and fires dominate national news. We follow the tallies of homes destroyed and lives lost, and we hear the wrenching accounts from rescue workers and survivors. Then, in a matter of days or weeks, the news "moves on." Another story grabs us, and the relief efforts continue in the background.
 
I’ve heard from experts at Wheaton’s Humanitarian Disaster Institute that one of the best ways individuals and churches can help in the aftermath is to keep paying attention—to check in with survivors in the months that follow as the rebuilding process continues and as anniversaries of loss come up. Plenty of churches in communities hit hard by natural disasters have taken that advice—which gives us at CT a chance to report follow-up coverage even when disasters have moved out of the national news cycle.
 
Four months since fires raged in Southern California, our latest coverage looks at the ways the destruction compounded the housing crisis in the region and the ways ministries have stepped in to share their space and resources and to advocate for families who lost their homes.