Bagh regrows – earthquake survivors as catalysts of community and personal reconstruction

In our age of frequent natural disasters in this increasingly interdependent world, there is a pressing need to understand better the processes of societal adjustment. The Kashmir earthquake of 8 October 2005 brought human suffering on a massive scale. High rates of psychiatric morbidity have been reported (Niaz et al, 2006; see also http://emdrpakistan.com). Whereas the relevance of the application of Western, secularised, psychological treatment models to this group is outside the scope of this paper, survivors have faced catastrophe and destruction of both their internal and external realities.