Essential factors for effective psychological response to disasters and other crises

Few human experiences contain the intensely concentrated horror, terror, and awesome power associated with a disaster. Nature's destructive forces and events in which humans rage out of control against one another can serve as trigger mechanisms for overwhelming psychological reactions in the survivors, community members, and rescuers. Appropriate crisis intervention strategies and tactics are often thrown off balance, delayed, and made more complex by the sheer magnitude of the catastrophe. Few guidelines for effective community crisis or disaster response team activities in a disaster have been written to date. This article will help to fill-in the information gaps and enhance a psychological team's ability to provide better crisis intervention services during disasters.