By Helen Alten

Reprinted from February 2015 Collections Caretaker

The Impact of Disasters on People

Events of all sizes create a notable disruption in people's lives because these events cause significant change. The trauma of a disaster results in cognitive, behavioral, emotional, physical, and spiritual responses in those affected by it, including the recovery workers.

The emotional and physical response of each person depends on many factors. These include the intensity of the disaster; the time between the event and recovery; the emotional and physical strength of the individual; the depth of feelings and level of panic felt by the individual; and prior experience with a similar event.

Emotional symptoms that might occur include irritability, anger, denial, fear, sadness, depression, grief, mood swings, isolation and withdrawal, feeling helpless and overwhelmed, and self-blame and/or blaming others. Physical symptoms can include loss of appetite, insomnia, fatigue or hyperactivity, concentration and memory problems, or increased use of alcohol or drugs. No one should be blamed for their reactions. All of these are coping mechanisms in a difficult time. It is important that we understand that all of this is normal, needs to be accepted, and needs to be treated before it makes the disaster much worse than it already is.

Psychological First Aid

Psychological First Aid is part of the recovery process as much as physical stabilization of your artifacts. It involves providing contact, engagement, safety and comfort for each individual. A therapist identifies the needs and concerns of each person and provides them with practical assistance and information on coping methods, social supports and collaborative services that can provide more help. Remember, after the first few hours, the members of a recovery team are also psychologically affected by the disaster.

A therapist's first contact with those affected by a disaster should address needs of individuals, families and communities. The goal is to reduce the initial distress caused by traumatic events. Then the therapist works to foster short and long-term adaptive functioning in each person, according to the culture and the ages of the affected individuals.

When making contact with survivors of a disaster it is important to be gentle, compassionate, and respectful of individual feelings. The therapist's contact should be suggestive, not conclusive, informal and unobtrusive. It takes time for survivors to feel safe and trusting. Patience is important to reduce fear and apprehension. Answer pressing questions, concerns and needs, and support their individual coping efforts.

The impact of trauma can reduce the ability to concentrate, disrupt attention, and impair cognitive skills. Think about when someone near to you died. Did you have trouble remembering where you put the car keys? Were you wandering around, forgetting important things, feeling like a zombie? Trauma can lead to regression and poor coping mechanisms that result in anger. It is important to create and sustain better feelings around these individuals by stressing safety and staying calm. Create an atmosphere that promotes connections with others and self-sufficiency, empowerment and hope. 

First Responders are not immune

First responders are not immune to psychological reactions to disaster situations. First responders include emergency management personnel, healthcare workers, psychologists and social workers, contractors, museum/library conservators and staff and volunteers. Some of the factors causing stress in first responders are long hours, not knowing the duration of the deployment, unfamiliar context, new challenges, time pressures, multiple or conflicting priorities, previous traumatic experiences, and fear of death, injury and/or illness.

Mitigation Strategies

Mitigation strategies include briefing personnel before the response operation begins. Make everyone aware of the expected emotional responses in victims and responders. Emphasize teamwork and sharing both the workload and the emotional load. Assign partners to help each other and be sure to rotate personnel to minimize fatigue. Take breaks away from the incident area and emphasize the need for good nutrition, frequent water breaks, and rest. Talk about the experience and phase-out workers by gradually assigning them to easier recovery activities. If possible, include daily debriefing. Add a therapist to the recovery team to help people continue to cope effectively.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an intense physical and emotional response to thoughts and reminders about the traumatic event. If you see symptoms within yourself or one of your colleagues, reach out for assistance. Do not suffer in silence. Disasters and other traumatic events affect everyone. Be a survivor and not a victim.

Helen Alten founded Northern States Conservation Center 18 years ago and museumclasses.org10 years ago. She is an objects conservator with a desire to bring about change through museums, improving our communities and the patrimony we leave to our off-spring.