Psychosocial Interventions in Disaster Management
Q1. Explain the factor affecting the mental health impacts of disaster????
Ans: Various researches have been performed in order to discuss the impact of disaster on the
mental health. A brief summary of the researches that includes the mental health impact of
disaster is given below:
Barton described that they are four aspects of the disaster that impact the mental health which
includes scope of impact, speed of onset, duration of impact and social preparedness. Bolin
(1986) described several impact characteristics that will affect the mental health:

Terror and horror involved in experiencing or witnessing the event;

duration of impact; unexpectedness of the event (i.e., those events without warning
having the maximum psychological impact);

threat, as determined by pre-impact interpretation of risk;

impact ratio, or proportion of the community directly affected or suffering loss;

sociocultural changes such as activities of daily living, control over events, social support
networks in the post disaster environment;

symbolism of events (the meaning of the event to an individual, particularly the
differentiation between “acts of God” and human-caused technological or terrorism
events);

and interactive and cumulative effects of these and other pre- and post-disaster issues
upon victims and helpers, who vary greatly in personality types, pre-disaster emotional
state, and ability to manage stress)
Bolin (1986) also describes the importance of victim characteristics in disaster vulnerability.

Individuals as primary victims (those directly experiencing physical, material, and
personal losses) and

Secondary victims (those who witness the disaster but do not experience the actual
impact).
Q2. Why “Disaster relief procedures have been called “The Second Disaster”
(6 marks)???
Ans: Disaster relief procedures have been called the second Disaster because it survivors have
to go through a number of procedures in order to receive aid because the aid are generally
provided by the non-governmental organization that don’t give individual preference have a
strict procedures and rigid rules. In this regard most of the people are unable to gain the aid
although they were the most deserving at that time. The reason being called second disaster is
that it is period of providing temporary houses to victims, also providing them with the necessary
belongings, ten victims have to apply for the governmental aid and also they have to attain
governmental permit for rebuilding, getting insurance and also aid from the private
organizations. Victims of the disaster have already lost their self-esteem and feeling of
helplessness prevails in them and then they have to go through a documentation process for
receiving aid. So, mental health staff can provide help victims for coping their anger and
aggression. Mental health staff can make them realize that this second disaster is a general
process and helping them to cope with it and also explains them the policies of organization that
are providing aid.
Q3. Explain the major categories in which the common responses of children
and adolescents fall (7 marks)???
Ans: Common responses of the children and adolescents falls into following categories:
Change in behavior:
Children are at higher risks for the psychological problems at the occurring or after a disaster.
The children become emotionally affected at the occurring or after the disaster. The extrovert
children generally become silent and normal child became aggressive. But some children behave
normally because they are already observing stress within family members because of the
situation.
Fear and anxiety:
Fear and anxiety are also observed in the children. They feared the recurrence of disaster and
separation from their parents (the hardest feeling for them). They also develop specific fears
related to injury, death or accidents etc.
Re-experiencing the disaster:
They may experience the disaster during nightmares and are engage in the repetitive play about
the disaster and the feelings.
Confusion:
Children don’t understand the cause of disaster and also unaware of the people’s response
because for them it is new thing. So they are worried about their future that what will happen
after the disaster ends.
Regression:
Some children might experience habits of their early phase of development which they might
have declined. Young children involves in behavior like thumb-sucking and bed-wetting.
School Problems:
Children generally show avoidant behavior towards school because of the separation anxiety
from their parents and also their performances generally decrease in the school.
Sleep Problems:
Sleep disturbance also occur in the children because they are fearful to sleep alone, also they
experience nightmares, wakefulness etc.
Physical Complaints:
Children and teens also experience different physical pain which includes stomachaches and
headaches. School nurses generally observe these patterns within children and mentioned them
as stress related-disorder.
Researches done in this regard explains that children’s cognitive skills are less developed as
compared to the adult so they face more difficulty in coping it. Parental distress if strongest
regarding the disaster is predicator of child distress.