[The Great East Japan Earthquake: Risk Factors for Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms]

The Great East Japan Earthquake and following Tsunami struck the northeastern coast of Japan on March 11, 2011 and left approximately 21,389 dead or missing. Further, approximately 200,000 survivors were forced to live in uncomfortable environments after they had been evacuated. The survivors were not only damaged both physically and mentally, but they were also forced to change their lifestyle habits during the refuge life. It is well known that exposure to natural disasters, such as the Great East Japan Earthquake, has been associated with a variety of mental health consequences. Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its symptoms (PTSS) are the most commonly occurring and studied post-disaster psychopathologies. Although the majority of victims cope well with the situation and conditions associated with a disaster, some of them experience PTSS, and the minority of victims develop PTSD. In this article, we provide epidemiological findings to address the risk factors, for PTSS and PTSD. We also describe the challenges in identifying the pre-disaster risk factors for PTSS and PTSD in order to determine strategies that could facilitate psycological preparation for unexpected large-scale disasters.