The after-effects of a disaster
Mentioned on another thread yday how 3 Carnival cruise ships had been chartered by the US Givt to provide temporary accommodation and decent shelter, food, etc. Seems that the company and comradery that places like the Superdome generate are preferred. Goes to show what is more important to the humans suffering - a sense of identity and purpose leads over better conditions:
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I, myself, would be reluctant to get on a cruise ship in the gulf with several more named storms already formed ...
They have also apparently had trouble getting people to leave the Astrodome as they feel they have a better chance of reconnecting with their families if they stay closer to the area. |
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I think you are right Wolf, plus there are other reasons as well, such as the thought of being moved again and back towards the area that has caused you the problems, and then there is the common bond that will have been struck between 'neighbours' at the Dome.
When I first read the news that cruise ships were to be offered I thought that everyone would be jumping at the chance to have a proper bed with washing facilities and also regular quality food and care, but that was the calm thinking of someone who has not been so traumatically affected by events. Who can gauge the reaction of the victims, and how exhausted both mentally and physically they are. Decisions they make and take will be on a totally different basis. |
The majority of people affected by a disaster are actually pretty resilient. Meet their basic needs for safety, food, water, and shelter, and they do well. It's unlikely that folks who didn't need medications before the hurricane struck will need them in the aftermath. It's mostly about supportive counselling, in some cases specialized grief counselling, and doing things that will normalize the experience for them. Understanding stress reactions actually does a lot to help people through such experiences. Dealing with a natural disaster is actually easier than a terrorist event, but even that has it's own challenges. Lots of folks have a significant crisis of faith under these circumstances, but that's why we have Chaplains on the team who are specifically trained in disaster response. (A lot of well-meaning, untrained preachers say a lot of dumb things in the face of something like this ... particularly given that it was Gomorrah on the Gulf that got wiped off the face of the Earth.)
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One of the biggest tools that are at "our" disposal is the distribution of information. Not knowing what's going on breeds fear and uncertainty. There's a segment of what I do called a "Crisis Management Briefing" which gives accurate factual information about the event, as well as education on expected reactions ... basically teaching people that they are having NORMAL reactions of a NORMAL person who has been exposed to an ABNORMAL event. The training I have was originally developed for use with emergency services personnel. It includes "pre-incident education" (knowing about this stuff going in can help you deal with your reactions), "demobilization" (talking to people as they are coming off a duty shift or off a disaster ground), "defusing" (a structured group discussion within 24 hours of the event, talking over what happened, but prepping people for what they might likely experience) and "debriefing" (also a structured group discussion that focuses on more on what they have been thinking/feeling since the event). There are other segments that deal with children families of the emergency service workers, as well as spiritual support. The same process can also be used for civilians. Right now I don't know at which point I might be called in for assistance, but am prepared to go down South if my team is requested to do so. |
I suppose it does come down to the basics when you think of it - get the fundamental needs satisfied and that must do a lot to influence a person's thoughts about where he is best off. The cruise ships under such circumstances would represent an unknown compared to what may have been achieved/received so far and instead of providing extra security as the authorities expect the choice for the individual isn't so clear-cut as he would be removed from the present comfort zone and that isn't going to be attractive.
Do wonder where this will all end. Last night's news on UK TV concentarted on the massive pollution in the area - water mixed with harmful chemicals, rotting food, corpses, sewage, etc, causing the whole area to need to be evacuated and a first estimate of at keast 3 months to clear up. Add to that, this morning we heard that 25,000 body bags were being sent to the area - irrespective of the current number of assessed fatalities. Really leaves you with heavy mixed emotions at the scale of the disaster. |
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If you tell people that they are going to a psychological triage station, or that there are psychologists or mental health people or something like that, they tend to head very quickly in the other direction.
We do that, but we're sneaky about it. In addition to "normalizing the experience" we are on the lookout for signs and symptoms of something more going on. |
This link is a friend of a friend's house after the flood in Mississippi. It doesn't look that bad at first glance but the water was almost up to the roof so the drywall is toast and the mold is rampant. It's funny the fences are almost intact but the washer and dryer moved around inside the house. :(
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Was this the result of storm surge flooding? My god, what a mess. The fact that their houses are still standing and essentially intact belies the destruction, because the molds will make their homes uninhabitable. They'll have to be gutted, sterilized, and refitted.
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BigW00dy---I've seen people like that in the ED of our local hospital. Really.
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I wonder how many of those folks are suffering from PTSD? They went through literally hell for 6 days and are now displaced refugees. I have a friend who is black and her husband is in the military with orders for Iraq on October 22nd. She said to me, "Hell, yes, I'm playing the "race card" only its not a game. Facts are facts. The majority of people we saw on TV were poor black folks. I saw on TV where they called black people getting food from a store as looting, then later on they showed white folks doing the same thing and called it "finding" food. I wonder what my husband is going to Iraq to fight for, I really do."
Can't say as I blame her for feeling as she does. |
This link is to almost 200 photos by an employee of a French Quarter hotel in New Orleans. They are captioned to tell his story of the storm and how the city went to hell but not until a couple days after the storm passed. Very interesting. :mg:
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Other than the ones that had PTSD before the storm hit, of course. |
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