Elaine M. Johannes
Extension Assistant
Rural Family Support
Kansas State University
Cooperative Extension Service
Copyright/Access Information
With any crisis or disaster, there is typically a time to "mark" the traumatic event's anniversary. Many people assume that disaster-related
grief will diminish with time, that grief follows a straight line
from high to low. But time does not heal all wounds immediately.
Feelings of isolation, sadness, anger, lack of meaning, and despair
might occur long after the disaster. These feelings are not necessarily
back-slides into depression; they are simply normal anniversary
reactions.
Not everyone associated with a major disaster or crisis will have
anniversary reactions. Nor will all reactions be the same. Waves
of grief might occur at certain times during the year: at the
first major spring rain, the anniversary month of the major flooding
or around the time that "buy-outs" were finalized. Certain
stimuli may provoke anniversary reactions. For children, that
stimulus might be rain, thunder or large bodies of water. For
adults smells, photographs, or news accounts of the flood or other
disasters may trigger grief.
Those directly affected by the disaster are not the only ones
to experience anniversary reactions. Disaster relief workers,
human service providers, government officials, and whole communities
may experience some grief as anniversaries approach. To cope with
reawakened grief, formal and informal activities may be helpful.
Anniversary rituals help prepare for anticipated grief by structuring
remembrances and the expression of feelings and thoughts. Structure
provides some control of feelings that may seem overwhelming during
the anniversary.
The first step in preparing for anniversary "celebrations" and anticipated grief reactions is recognition.
- Recognize the possible reactions attached to the anniversary.
Grief is a normal reaction to loss. Losses due to disaster may
be as diffficult to deal with as losses due to death.
- Recognize that not everyone in a community surviving
disaster will be at the same stage in their grief. Some citizens
may have not been affected by the disaster and consider it a minor
inconvenience, while others may still be homeless, without employment,
and struggling with fragments of formerly organized lives.
- Recognize overly stressed disaster relief and human service
workers due to their continuous efforts to serve the identified "victims" of the disaster. Workers can often become
the "silent victims" of the disaster when their work
goes unnoticed and unappreciated. Often, their work must end due
to other service demands, without having some sense of how clients
will succeed or survive.
- Recognize that not all communities can nor want to recognize
the impact of the disaster. Some communities may choose to avoid
or deny the impact of the disaster; some will choose to eliminate
any sign of the disaster by altering their perception (e.g., blaming
others) or purging the community of the disaster's aftermath.
Not all communities will be able to assimilate or integrate the
disaster into its structure and patterns of interaction. Not all
communities will be able to absorb the lessons that the disaster
offered.
Given these variables in recognition, personal, family, and community,
anniversary celebrations must be planned and executed with care.
For example, not everyone in the family or community will be ready
to make sand castles from river sand washed up in neighboring
wheat fields. Anniversary rituals recognize the reality of the
crisis that has changed individual lives and communities.
When planning anniversary celebrations, keep limits on rituals.
Make them useful and meaningful, such as replanting trees that
were destroyed by the flood. Decide what kind of ritual or activity
best suits potential participants. Target the community's celebration
to those who have lost homes, farms, or businesses due to flooding,
then broaden the events' focus to include the families of victims,
disaster relief workers, support staff, schools, civic organizations,
government, and the media.
Children, farmers, older adults, single disabled adults, people
with limited incomes, and others, all have unique experiences
related to the disaster and may have unique anniversary reactions
and grief. At any community anniversary event, involve mental
health professionals who are able to assist family and friends
if emotions become unexpectedly extreme.
No matter what community "celebration" is planned for
the anniversary of the disaster, be sure to:
- Provide for a variety of activities or rituals; people grieve
or "celebrate" differently;
- Make the "celebration" organized, limited, and appropriate
so that emotions (both positive and negative) are manageable;
- Keep "celebration" activities compatible with the
moods of the community, consider where the majority of the community
is emotionally, but be prepared for the unexpected;
- Actively involve disaster survivors in the planning, implementation,
and evaluation of the "celebration." Activity helps
in the healing process; likewise, involve mental health and human
service professionals; and
- Appreciate the fact that recognition of the disaster's anniversary,
however slight, may be vital to the health and healing of the
community and its citizens. The anniversary can serve as another
step towards integrating the disaster into the community's history.
During disaster recovery, isolation and withdrawal may be an
issue. The following are aspects of community neighboring in time
of crisis that might be helpful.
- Emphasize the importance of community.
- Help people be aware that many factors work against community
when experiencing disaster.
- Encourage people to emotionally "draw close" to deal
with the distancing of other's emotions.
- Emphasize that people can be helped by small deeds.
- Encourage people to find support when they need it; normalize
emotions of grief.
- Effective growth, development, and maintenance of community
requires widespread support and knowledge of available resources.
- Emphasize that the people in our lives are resources.
(Excerpted from Wright, Sara, and Rosenblatt, Paul C., (1987) "Isolation and farm loss: Why neighbors may not be supportive." Family Relations, 36:391-395.)
- Sidewalk chalk art, music, coloring, painting
- Community tours: rebuilt homes, businesses, farms
- Appreciation Days or Events for disaster workers, government
officials
- Community meals, dinners, and potlucks
- Photo/video exhibitions (Film Festivals)
- Erect a temporary "Wall of Memory" for notes, photos,
items related to the flood
- Community organizations, youth groups prepare "disaster
kits"
- Flood Artifact auction to raise funds for future disaster reliefs
Grieving: How to Go on Living When Someone You Love Dies,
Therese A. Rando, Ph.D. Lexington Books, Lexington, MA 1988.
Disaster Intervention Training Part I, Crisis Services
of Madison County, Inc. Amy Hilgemann, Mitch Mayfield, and Sue
Panetti-Lee, Wood River, IL, 1993.
Human Services in the Rural Transition, Great Plains Staff
Training and Development for Rural Mental Health, Psychology Department,
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, David S. Hargrove, Project Director,
1989.
Learning to Live Through Loss: Series, Carolyn S. Wilken,
Ph.D., Extension Specialist, Aging & Healthcare, Kansas State
University, Manhattan, KS, 1993.
FORMAT AVAILABLE:: Print - 4 pages
DOCUMENT REVIEW::
Level 2 - Kansas State University Cooperative Extension Service
DOCUMENT SIZE:: 12 K or 4 page
ENTRY DATE:: October 1996
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