Resiliency and Recovery: Lessons From the Asian Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina
The Fragility of Existence
In both contexts drawn upon in this article, the fragility of existence played a large role in the lives of survivors. Although the twin disasters occurred in different years, on different continents, and in different cultures, the authors argue that the human experience of trauma was no different.
Commonalities in the recovery experience
The authors highlight several commonalities in the recovery experiences of women affected by the Asian Tsunami and women affected by Hurricane Katrina. In both contexts’ resiliency, coping, being able to process trauma, self-agency, supportive friends, family and community members, a feeling of belonging and helping others were all survival factors.
Religion and Spirituality
Faith in God and religious practice were identified as the most important coping resource for the seven female participants in this study who had survived the Asian Tsunami. The authors highlight numerous ways that religion and spirituality supported many of these survival factors for women in both contexts.
Comment:
This article is somewhat one sided in its analysis of religion and spirituality, not engaging with the challenges they can present for MHPSS. It is also limited due to small sample sizes. However, it remains a useful article, in part because it connects the large body of literature on religious coping in western high-income contexts, especially the US, with religious coping in low-income and fragile contexts. It also focuses on women survivors of Hurricane Katrine and the Asian Tsunami, exploring the intersections of faith, mental health, psychosocial well-being and gender.
