What is Disaster Response

Last updated on 11st April 2022

Physical injuries and tangible losses aside, disasters can bring about various psychological impacts on both disaster survivors and workers. We may feel a sense of heaviness by the mere imagination of post-disaster chaos and aftermath or by coming across the catastrophic scenes through media reports. Directly exposed to the traumatic event, disaster survivors may experience even stronger emotional reactions e.g. depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and grief. Meanwhile, disaster workers may also be under great pressure associated with their duties, such as handling bodies and mutilated remains and coping with dying victims during rescue work.

We have little control over the occurrence of some disasters, but we can learn to cope with stress in the wake of disasters to help reduce anticipatory anxiety. Check out the contents in this section to find out about how disaster survivors and their relatives、the public、disaster workers and their supervisors can respond to a disaster to reduce and manage psychological impacts. Hope you will find the information useful.

For Disaster Survivors & Relatives

People may show different psychological reactions shortly after a disaster (see Disaster Overview: What are the impacts of disaster).

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For the Public

People without direct experience in the disaster may still have psychological impacts, e.g. through repeated exposure to media coverage. Some of you tend to come across detailed narrations with images or video footages about the disaster on social media, instant news mobile apps and TV, thus becoming indirectly engaged in the incident (See Disaster Overview: Who will be affected).

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For Disaster Workers

Disaster workers have usually been through professionally training and are capable of handling different kinds of emergencies.

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For Supervisors

While disaster workers stand at the frontline, their supervisors take care of management and support. Both tasks are key to the efficiency and sustainability of rescue efforts, which in turn affects the overall success of the operation.

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