Natural disasters and their aftermath

The chronic trauma endured by the people of Iraq, Darfur and Zimbabwe is a subject regularly brought to our attention in the UK by the news media. The mental health risk attributable to living in a situation in which each day brings the threat of more disruption, another risk to life and limb, the loss of people you love, perhaps of your home, is great. Less attention is now paid to isolated incidents that came in an instant but then passed by, leaving in their wake terrible destruction. Initial concern has not exactly turned into indifference, but in the aftermath of acute events it is hard to sustain great interest for months on end. Yet, for those who inhabit the rim of land in the Indian Ocean affected by the tsunami of December 2004, one single event did bring about unimaginable destruction and loss of life. In Kashmir in October 2005, an earthquake destroyed communities within a huge geographical area, one that was far more isolated, and hence less accessible to reporters, than the beaches of Phuket. From time to time we may wonder what happened to the survivors of these disasters – how are they coping, what help has been made available to them since, and to what extent have political complexities in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Kashmir influenced the availability of aid and assistance?