Trauma responses to disaster: A tale of two cities

On September 7, 2010, the first of several devastating earthquakes hit Christchurch, New Zealand, causing widespread damage to the city. Two large aftershocks on February 22, 2011 and June 13, 2011 caused numerous deaths and almost complete destruction of the central business district.  On April 27, 2011, an EF4 tornado hit Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA, killing dozens of people. Both of these disasters involved disruption to everyday life, required substantial aid from outside sources, caused people to flee the cities, and required a lengthy rebuilding process that is currently underway.  

As a resident of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and a native of Christchurch, New Zealand, I found these disasters to be profoundly affecting on a personal basis. I was surprised at how much more affected I was in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes than the Tuscaloosa tornado, even though I do not presently live in New Zealand. In submitting this abstract to the RC49 session on disaster and mental health, I propose to compare the mental health effects of the two disasters, and offer an autoethnographic account of why one disaster was personally more traumatizing than the other.

The presentation will also offer a sociological analysis of community responses to the two disasters: that is, how each society manages social disaster according to preexisting models of social engagement. In New Zealand’s case, the response followed the government-intervention model in which mental health needs and rebuilding are managed by the public sector. In Tuscaloosa’s case, mental health needs were managed by church and community groups, while rebuilding involves a fractious private-public partnership. I will finalize the presentation by evaluating the progress toward recovery in the two cities, including in terms of the mental health and coping of affected residents.