“No disaster is ever really over when the storm breaks or the curve is flattened. After Hurricane Ike in 2008, 5% of people in Texas affected by the storm met the criteria for major depressive disorder during the following month, and later research found that “post-disaster stressors” — including job loss, marital stress, and displacement — were linked to PTSD symptoms over the following 18 months. “Getting kids back into school, paying rent, taking care of parents, those stressors actually extend [the trauma] and increase the likelihood of mental illness,” says Galea.”