Disaster and Mental Health
Natural Disaster and Mental Health:
A Reflection Paper on Analyzing the Development and Environment (ADE)
By Selahuddin Yu Hashim
MDM 2013
When mother earth rages escaping from it is an almost impossible mission to achieve. Even nations with the most sophisticated technology may find it difficult to counter the destructive effect of natural disaster. And even if one is able to lessen its impact, it still results in devastation of the land affecting many people. The experience in Mt. Pinatubo in 1996 is more than an evidence of this devastation.
Natural disasters cause damage of property and loss of life and most of the time leaves economic damage in its wake. The resilience of the affected population or its ability to recover indicates the severity of which. In a vulnerable area, typhoon, flood, earthquake, tsunami and others can have disastrous consequences and leave lasting damage.
Due to its topographical location, the Philippines is always visited by typhoons and other calamities affecting mainly areas in Luzon and Visayas. Recently, Mindanao has been devastated with series of typhoons and tropical storms. In 2011, the tropical storm Washi or Sendong heavily affected areas of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) estimated that around 69,755 households were affected. Of these, almost 300 thousand people have been displaced. In December of 2012, the typhoon Pablo hit Eastern Mindanao including Caraga and Davao (Agusan del Sur and Davao Oriental) regions.
Most of the people affected are working in the farm, unskilled/skilled labors or workers and many of them belong to the poor family. A survey conducted by Shelter Cluster Organization shows that almost 80% percent of the displaced families live below the poverty threshold even prior to the Sendong incident. The demography is generally young, 11%of which are children under the age of five (5) and 3% being infants.
Given the demography and
A Reflection Paper on Analyzing the Development and Environment (ADE)
By Selahuddin Yu Hashim
MDM 2013
When mother earth rages escaping from it is an almost impossible mission to achieve. Even nations with the most sophisticated technology may find it difficult to counter the destructive effect of natural disaster. And even if one is able to lessen its impact, it still results in devastation of the land affecting many people. The experience in Mt. Pinatubo in 1996 is more than an evidence of this devastation.
Natural disasters cause damage of property and loss of life and most of the time leaves economic damage in its wake. The resilience of the affected population or its ability to recover indicates the severity of which. In a vulnerable area, typhoon, flood, earthquake, tsunami and others can have disastrous consequences and leave lasting damage.
Due to its topographical location, the Philippines is always visited by typhoons and other calamities affecting mainly areas in Luzon and Visayas. Recently, Mindanao has been devastated with series of typhoons and tropical storms. In 2011, the tropical storm Washi or Sendong heavily affected areas of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) estimated that around 69,755 households were affected. Of these, almost 300 thousand people have been displaced. In December of 2012, the typhoon Pablo hit Eastern Mindanao including Caraga and Davao (Agusan del Sur and Davao Oriental) regions.
Most of the people affected are working in the farm, unskilled/skilled labors or workers and many of them belong to the poor family. A survey conducted by Shelter Cluster Organization shows that almost 80% percent of the displaced families live below the poverty threshold even prior to the Sendong incident. The demography is generally young, 11%of which are children under the age of five (5) and 3% being infants.
Given the demography and