Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
This scenario describes well the reaction that begins to
set in after a disaster. While humans are quite resilient
during disaster, a state of shock or numbness that
borders on self-pity sets in afterwards. These feelings
inevitably turn to anger within 24-48 hours: maybe
anger at oneself for not preparing better for the event,
maybe anger at a neighbor who better survived the
disaster, maybe anger at some larger organization such
as the Weather Bureau for not giving enough warning
about the approach of a cyclone, maybe anger at some
unidentified group such as the conservationists who
prevented prescribed burning. The object may be real
or imaginary. It makes no difference. One just becomes
angry. The outlet may be physical or verbal abuse. A
colleague of mine walked into a landslide disaster area,
within the anger time frame, to take pictures, and left
with a bleeding nose after being punched in the face.
Commonly, people must talk about the event to anyone
who will listen. The press preys upon this characteris-
tic to get pictures and material on the disaster, and
often records this anger stage. In some cases, the press
becomes the object of the resentment. Relief and
social workers are aware of the fact that if they remain
around the scene of a disaster long enough, they must
expect to be on the receiving end of some of the verbal
attacks.
For some, a disaster elicits a victim-helper
syndrome. Large natural disasters such as earthquakes
can completely destroy the physical fabric of a com-
munity. Survivors become very dependent upon
outside aid for their daily requirements such as shelter,
clothes, food, and services. Often the victims have no
resources left for reconstruction. They may be suffer-
ing from injury or shock after losing family members.
These people become victims of the disaster. Without
anything that is familiar, without any ability to cope
or power to direct their own lives, they succumb to
lethargy and establish a complete dependence upon
the rescuer. This disaster syndrome is not that
common, being most pronounced following traumatic
catastrophes for only a minority of people. In some
cases, unless aid is directed to re-establishing a normal
existence, the victims can become permanently locked
into a dependency syndrome. They become disaster
refugees. For example, the Ethiopian government at
the end of the Sahel drought of 1984 forcibly repatri-
ated refugees to relief camps in their northern home-
lands, because they had become so dependent upon
emergency aid that they were hesitant to return to
what they still perceived as drought-ravaged farms. A
significant number of evacuees of Cyclone Tracy, after
a year of living in the southern states of Australia where
the standard of living was better, also found it difficult
deciding to return home to Darwin.
The evacuation of survivors causes other psycholog-
ical problems. For instance, after Cyclone Tracy, most
residents were initially evacuated. However, husbands
were permitted back to rebuild. Families were often
separated for up to a year. When finally reunited,
parents had drifted apart socially, and a gulf had arisen
between fathers and children who had not seen each
other for months. In this case, the resulting tragedy of
Darwin was not the initial death toll from the cyclone;
it was the fact that over 50 per cent of families who had
experienced the disaster separated within a decade.
Nor was this phenomenon restricted to evacuees.
Families in the south, who had volunteered their
homes as temporary billets, were faced with increased
stress and - for some individuals - tempted into an
extra-marital affair with younger guests. Evacuees,
especially those people who were self-employed, also
experienced loss of income. This was not necessarily a
problem for government workers or employees of
benevolent national companies, who were relocated to
southern offices. Those who were not so lucky faced
unemployment or found temporary work. For some,
this alternative employment became so attractive that
they were reluctant to return to Darwin and face an
uncertain future. Single-parent families left in the
south during the reconstruction also faced difficulties
with children. Because of the trauma and changed sur-
roundings, younger children underwent regressive
behavior. Without a father-figure, rejected by their
peers as odd, and considered transient by the commu-
nity, school-aged children found it difficult adjusting to
a strange environment and fitting into the community's
social activities. Many developed antisocial behavioral
traits, became delinquent, or took up drugs and alcohol
to cope. The problems were especially acute for
younger children (see Table 13.1). Behavior of these
non-returnee children significantly differed from simi-
larly aged children who either had returned to Darwin
or, for some reason, had not left.
Within Australia, this situation is not unique to
Cyclone Tracy. The drought of 1982-1983 drove many
families off the land into rural towns and the capital
cities, where society was more permissive than gener-
ally experienced on isolated farms. Many children
