The psychosocial response to disasters is designed and implemented to prevent or minimize the psychological and social consequences for people and the community affected by a catastrophic event.
The teams that perform this type of intervention – psychosocial intervention teams – are usually made up of coordinators, psychologists and volunteers with specific training, who also act at two distinct times.
- The first moment is after the disaster.
- The second.
- Before this happens.
- Through prevention work that reduces potential vulnerabilities in communities.
- But what are disasters?.
Disasters are defined as events, both natural and man-made, that generate a threat situation so great that it exceeds the capacity for reaction and response.
Scientific evidence indicates that natural disasters do not leave as many psychological consequences as those caused by human beings; However, both have repercussions that can be devastating on the community and cause a lot of suffering to people.
In the event of a disaster, several factors can help improve or aggravate the situation. To rebuild the lost, the community, from a psychosocial point of view, must:
Immediately upon reaching the affected area, psychosocial disaster response teams must act to assist those with insufficient psychological resources to cope with the situation that has just occurred. They will have priority.
This action is known as psychological first aid, they are of limited and intense duration and do not have to respond to a direct request from the interested party, the teams themselves can take the initiative and help, the action must be governed by seven principles:
In the face of a large-scale event, supporting a survivor without training and without referrals can be something we don’t know how to do, what’s fair to say?What should we or should we not do?
Here are some of the key recommendations for psychosocial disaster response:
As a final reflection, when we think of a disaster, we usually take as an example an event that occurs in a limited space of time, an earthquake, the eruption of a volcano, a traffic accident or a major industrial accident, etc. , this is not always the case.
A disaster can also be a prolonged war, famine, or any other phenomenon that lasts over time.
Therefore, the work of psychosocial disaster response teams is not to provide support only at specific times.
In many cases, the duration of psychosocial intervention should be extended, if necessary, until the community can return to the same functional level it had before the disaster.