Do victims of a natural disaster - earthquake; flood; fire or other - need psychological support?

Natural disasters are natural phenomena that are destructive in nature and scale, endangering people's health and lives and causing significant material damage. Typical examples of natural disasters are volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods, avalanches, tropical cyclones, hurricanes and others.

Increasingly, people fall victim to natural disasters. In addition to the material damage, destruction of homes and road infrastructure, they also have a strong psychological impact on the victims. An aspect that is often not sufficiently addressed. Victims of a major earthquake, for example, need adequate psychological help to overcome the shock they have experienced during the disaster. People who have lost loved ones to the indomitable forces of nature should also be treated with particular care.

Need for psychological support for victims of a natural disaster

The need for psychological support for victims of earthquake, fire or flood is very great. The loss of a loved one, a home, a job or a crop or livestock for farmers and livestock keepers, puts a huge mental and emotional strain. For those who have suffered this kind of natural disaster, the various negative mental states that arise as a result of the experience, which are expressed in stress, panic, shock, etc., are explored. These states are characterized by a predominance of acute or chronic negative emotional experiences, such as anxiety, fear, depression, sleep disturbance, crying nightmares, etc. The affects that arise in these states can lead to a condition that prevents the person from adapting, to current events. Intense emotional experiences, after experiencing a natural disaster, can make it difficult to adequately perceive reality and properly assess the situation. This in turn leads to long-lasting or acute emotional-negative states that complicate the person's life, but also behavioral disorders.

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What is the psychological support

The basic principles for providing psychological support to victims of a natural disaster are:

• Urgency;
• Proximity to the scene of the event;
• Expectation that normalcy will be restored;
• Unity of psychological impact.

The urgency of the psychological support means that the victim's help should be provided as quickly as possible. The more time that passes since the event, the greater the likelihood of developing chronic illnesses, including post-traumatic stress disorder.

The principle of proximity to the scene is about providing assistance in familiar surroundings to minimise negative consequences.

The victim should be taken away from the epicentre of events and provided with food, water, rest, a safe environment and the opportunity to be listened to. Emergency psychological services are those that perform the following basic functions:

• Practical functions, which consist of directly providing emergency psychological and pre-medical care to victims of natural disasters;
• Coordination to ensure liaison and interaction with specialised psychological services.

The actions of psychologists working in extreme conditions differ from the normal therapeutic situation in the following points:

• Working with groups of victims of a natural disaster created on the basis of the needs of the psychotherapeutic process;
• Working with patients in an acute affective state and under the impact of a traumatic situation, which is not quite usual for normal psychotherapy;
• Working with patients who have lost loved ones, friends, favorite places to live, work, etc., which contributes to the onset of traumatic stress.

Priority in providing psychological support

Priority in providing psychological support is given to victims of fire, flood , earthquake or other natural disaster and their families. Family counsellors and psychologists work with them on an ongoing basis to help guide victims through the recovery process in a smoother and more seamless way. For this, it is necessary to take into account the different reactions of the victims, because the same situation can cause different reactions in different people. The manifestation of a particular reaction depends, above all, on the nature and complexity of the situation, but also on the individual psychological characteristics of the person. Thus, in the case of psychological assistance after a natural disaster, many different reactions can be observed.

What are the World Health Organisation recommendations for providing effective psychological support

To date, the WHO has a large number of staff providing first psychological support to victims of natural disasters. Here are some of the main recommendations they should follow:

• Find a quiet place where they can talk to the victim;
• Stay close to their interlocutor, but also keep an appropriate distance, taking into account personality, gender or cultural characteristics;
• To show the victim that they are listening and to concentrate on their words;
• Be calm and patient.

Charity and psychological support for victims of natural disasters

To provide psychological support to victims of natural disasters, charity campaigns can be organised to recruit volunteer psychologists and social workers to work with victims of fire, flood or earthquake. Various governmental and non-governmental organizations, foundations and individuals take up the task of organizing donation campaigns to raise funds and aid to purchase medicines for the treatment of these people. The main efforts in these cases are aimed at:

• Reaching the most vulnerable and hardest hit people in a quick and timely manner;
• Immediate provision of assistance in case of shock or post-traumatic stress;
• Providing the necessary treatment medication, equipment and medical supplies;
• Providing mental health and psychological support services;
• Mobilization of psychologists and sociologists to assist victims.

Psychological support in cooperation with the Pavel Andreev Foundation

Psychological support for victims of natural disasters requires a lot of time and work on the part of psychologists. However, it enables victims to overcome the fear, panic and shock of their experience more quickly. We at the Pavel Andreev Foundation work with many other organizations and individuals, organizing various charity campaigns to raise funds for the victims' hospital treatment or the procurement of necessary medication. Through our website PavelAndreev.ORG, you can get involved with various charity ideas to raise funds to provide psychological support to victims of natural disasters or get involved in any charitable cause. There are many people and organizations that we work with and that are sympathetic to the projects shared on our website PavelAndreev.ORG. Here you can share your charity idea and find many supporters to support you.