DisasterAction - Guidance for Responders
This leaflet has been written by members of Disaster Action (DA), all of whom are survivors and bereaved people from disasters. Some of the disasters we have been affected by are the Zeebrugge ferry sinking, King’s Cross fire, Lockerbie air crash, Hillsborough football stadium crush, Marchioness riverboat sinking, Dunblane shootings, Clapham, Southall and Ladbroke Grove train crashes, the 11 September attacks in the United States, the Bali bombing, the 7 July attacks in London and other terrorist attacks overseas.
After disaster, as well as the kind of practical, financial and legal assistance that may be provided through organised support services, many people find the opportunity to be in touch with others who have had similar experiences can also offer unique understanding and mutual support.
Communities spontaneously come together for support and there may be a natural impulse to convene and provide mutual support in times of crisis. Psychological and social support – in the form of family, group and/or community support – is fundamental to people’s recovery after disaster.
For this reason disaster support groups, consisting of bereaved people and/or survivors with similar experiences and interests, often form after disasters. It has long been recognised that psychosocial support strategies that facilitate, support and enable such opportunities are an important way of enhancing self-help, community resilience and longer-term recovery.
Some of those directly affected by disaster will not wish to join a support group while others may seek the chance to meet, stay in touch with others and even lead a group. The reasons people wish to join groups vary, but include the desire for mutual support, to share information and/or work together in the pursuit of common goals such as the prevention of similar incidents and/or legal outcomes.
Under the Civil Contingencies Act, disaster response and recovery is the responsibility of Category One responders such as the local authority, health authorities and police service. Personnel such as police family liaison officers, those operating telephone support lines and managing reception and assistance centres may have direct contact with families and others directly affected very soon after a disaster strikes.
It is sometimes wrongly assumed that providing information about opportunities for those affected to be in touch with each other may be harmful for them or and for investigative strategies. On the contrary, it is important that at the earliest opportunity people are given information and choices about how, where and when they may come together and meet in a safe, comfortable and appropriate environment. Those responsible for developing broader humanitarian assistance strategies should recognise and facilitate options for people to come together in this way; mutual support is a central principle in their psychological and social recovery.
Our experience is that people also benefit from meeting people from other disasters even where the actual disaster experience has been different. With collective experience of over 25 disasters DA members offer common understanding and support in the early aftermath and later whereby the decision to meet others comes after a greater passage of time.
In the days and weeks following disaster many people will wish for and seek out opportunities to be in touch with others affected by the disaster. As well as the growing use of social networking media for this, opportunities should be made available for those directly affected to be in physical contact with each other and meet face to face.
Depending on the circumstances of the disaster there may be a natural or existing community or group of people familiar and in contact with each other, for example where tragedy strikes a school or workplace. In other circumstances, such as after a transport-related or terrorist incident, opportunities should be provided early on for new contact between people who wish to meet each other because of the experience of the disaster itself.
Those responsible for emergency response and recovery (for example local and health authorities, the police and psychosocial service providers), can offer practical assistance to enable the formation of independent disaster support groups. They can do this by:
DA has extensive experience of setting up and running disaster support groups. Many of our members initiated their own such groups after disaster. We have drawn on this experience in working with disaster responders wishing to assist in this area. In addition, we provide information, advice and support to bereaved and survivors who have gone on to establish their own unique groups. DA is itself a distinctive form of umbrella group, which follows the principles highlighted above of political and financial independence, activism and mutual support.
DA can advise on your emergency planning, response and recovery strategies by reviewing your psychosocial support and recovery plans, advising and assisting with the organisation and conduct of initial meetings, as well as offering ongoing independent information, support and advice to support groups in their early formation and ongoing development and activity.
‘When Disaster Strikes’, DA leaflets Setting up Family and/or Survivor Support Groups - http://www.disasteraction.org.uk/support/da_guide07.htm and
Setting up and Running an E-forum Discussion Group – http://www.disasteraction.org.uk/support/da_guide06.htm
Data Protection and Sharing – Guidance for EmergencyPlanners and Responders -http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/132709/dataprotection.pdf
Eyre A. (2006) Identifying People’s Needs in Major Emergencies and Best Practice in Humanitarian Response - Independent report commissioned by the Department for Culture Media & Sport, October 2006 - www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/132790/ha_literature_review.pdf
Disaster Action would like to thank all those who have contributed to the preparation of this leaflet.