* This material is translated from the educational resource psykososialberedskap.no, developed by RVTS East (Norway).
These are practical and useful tools, aimed at providing specific knowledge for volunteers and humanitarian personnel, working in disaster zones.
Tuesday morning at Jaren train station (Norway). The train collided with a car, all emergency services are involved. District authorities and local police have long been ready and trained. This day has come. A serious accident with a large number of victims – an emergency center is created. Full-scale emergency preparedness training is underway.
Your role
In a catastrophe, the number of people, who need help, exceeds the number of available resources. Therefore, providing care and support is a challenge, which involves prioritization and the need to take into account many factors. Staff are needed to perform complex tasks, having experience, understanding, competence and can quickly assess the overall picture.
The staff faces a lack of time and resources,
scenes of confrontation and a sense of helplessness.
Nils Petter Reinholdt, special adviser, RVTS East
In the event of a disaster, employees deal with tasks, which are different from those, which they perform in their daily work, and from those, which occur in other crisis situations. Working in a catastrophe causes a number of new exceptional problems, the solution of which requires specific strategies and measures:
First psychological help
Most people experience stress reactions after traumatic events. These reactions are different and occur as a natural consequence of a traumatic event. If you immediately provide care and support to the person, then you can prevent mental health problems and help strengthen your physical condition.
Helping many at once
In the event of a disaster staff, who usually works with individuals or families, forced to work with a large number of people at once, who need help.
Obit
The worst message, which we can get, – death of a loved one. It hurts especially, when it happens suddenly, example, in cases of suicide, accidents or catastrophes.
Caring for children and adolescents
Nine young people, who survived the terrorist attacks in Norway in 2011 year, are currently members of the advisory group, established by the Norwegian Ombudsman for Children , whose name is "Expert Group". They are experts, because they have their own experience of that, how schools and support services work with children and adolescents, who survived the disaster.
Assistance work requires cooperation and self-regulation
Disaster management requires the cooperation of staff with the heads of many different institutions. Coordinated teamwork and confident employees, who are aware of their own reactions, – these are the main factors in reassuring and supporting disaster victims.
Emergency response training
Terrorist acts in Norway 22 July 2011 found a need for a more comprehensive emergency preparedness program, including emergency response training, aimed at psychosocial assistance. And the Norwegian Ministry of Health, and an independent commission came to one conclusion:
22 In July, the Commission stressed the importance of prioritizing training in the management of victims' families and the work of the Disaster Victims Reception Center.. It should also be included as an element in interagency emergency response training.
Plans
Emergency preparedness plans should clearly describe the algorithm for providing psychosocial assistance in the event of a disaster.. All staff, who is involved in disaster relief work, should regularly practice providing psychosocial support to victims.
Conducting exercises
Local authorities should regularly train disaster preparedness plans, to which there is the greatest vulnerability. This is a necessary condition for providing proper assistance to people, who were directly and indirectly affected. The experience of conducting such trainings should be evaluated, and plans should be revised as necessary.
Role play
Emergency response training should provide all crisis response team members with realistic opportunities for rehearsals. A real role-playing game with actors, which demonstrates various crisis situations, is extremely important, because it gives staff a realistic experience of chaos during a disaster.
Effective leadership in disasters
In the event of a catastrophe, leaders must know how to accept, and execute decisions. Leaders need to be competent in crisis management and have a thorough knowledge of plans and resources.
Being responsible, you have to evaluate, to direct and give orders- not necessarily directly involved. Sometimes this can be a problem; it is difficult to resist the urge to do everything yourself.
Lars Weisset, crisis psychiatrist and researcher.
Emergency planning and preparation
The need for effective coordination and leadership is particularly evident in the reception center for disaster victims, where the victims are people with different needs. Leadership involves identifying complex priorities with limited time and resources. This requires regular training and rehearsals.
Characteristics of effective crisis leaders
In general, effective leadership is characterized by such qualities and skills as positive communication, competence, experience and optimistic thinking. There are three leadership qualities, which are especially important for effective crisis management: knowledge and experience, the ability to listen and the ability to make decisions.
Honoring the memory
Accidents and catastrophes are usually used to honor the memory of the dead. It helps to unite and helps them, who lost loved ones, to understand the essence of a chaotic situation.
Interaction with the media
Media management- this is the most important task of leadership in a disaster. Be the center of media attention- quite a difficult test. Training and education of key media employees is a necessary condition for a successful solution to this problem.
Using the capabilities of social networks
Today it is expected, that authorities and organizations, which are mobilized in a disaster, will use social networks. Effective communication immediately after a disaster can make a significant contribution to saving lives.
Halvor Fossum Lauritzen, former head of foreign affairs of the Norwegian Red Cross: "Emergency management requires flexibility at the same time, and a clear structure ".
Organization of work in a disaster
Catastrophes differ in scale from other accidents, chaos, number of victims and parties involved. Training is needed to create the structure, and adapted and agreed plans and procedures.
The local crisis management group is responsible for managing and coordinating disaster response, major accidents, terrorist acts, mass killings and other events, which affect society as a whole.
Nils Petter Reinholdt, special adviser, RVTS East
Psychosocial support during disasters requires comprehensive coordination and cooperation with a clear leadership structure. Circumstances require staff to be flexible and able to work independently.
The role of the crisis response team in emergency preparedness
Crisis response group- it is an independent team, which is internally organized depending on the tasks. The psychosocial readiness plan describes, how a team should manage crisis situations, accidents and catastrophes.
Disaster Victims Reception Center
The Center for Reception of Disaster Victims was created for that purpose, so that local authorities and police can accept, register and accompany evacuees and their immediate relatives. The operation of such a Center requires coordination and cooperation between crisis response teams and emergency services..
Communication
Crisis communication is, to effectively transmit the necessary and accurate information in a limited time.
Staff support and follow-up
Staff, involved in disaster relief work, faces resistance, as well as with feelings of helplessness and despair. Therefore, staff also need further monitoring; strategies for this should be included in preparedness plans.
