Argument for emergency relief of disaster survivors Essay

rivalry for emergency residuum of disaster survivors - Essay ExampleHowever, the primary mindset that has traditionally governed the relief efforts make by the relief agencies is to extend medical assistance and supply basic necessities like food, medicines, clothing, drinking pee and shelter to the disaster survivors. It would not be wrong to say that hitherto the relief efforts made by the relief agencies tended to focus on the external needs of the disaster survivors. The relief agencies till very new times totally ignored the mental distress and the resultant mental health issues faced by the disaster survivors. For example it was only in 1989 that the Red Cross recognized the need for extending mental health services to the survivors in the disaster hit areas. Many government agencies and the policy makers deployed in important relief agencies believe that the visible and material needs and requirements of the people in the disaster hit areas should take anteriority over t he less obvious aspects such as the mental trauma and distress faced by them. However, this approach towards disaster relief is utterly narrow and short sighted. Ignoring the mental health needs of the survivors in the disaster hit areas is indeed callous and in a way cruel. Disasters by their very spirit happen to be instances that not only jeopardize the set way of life of the people in an area, but that also lead to the loss of the loved ones and personal homes and possessions, acute personal injuries and physical trauma, and a total shattering of the social moral (McFarlane & Williams 1). Hence, a disaster is bound to work much psychological and emotional distress to a significant proportion of the survivors in any impacted area. Hence, mental health services need to be an integral aspect of the relief extended to the survivors in the disaster hit areas so as to help the survivors cope up with the trauma and distress undergo by them, to