Disaster workers : trauma and social support.

Bibliography: p. 153-157

An estimated 7% of the U.S. population is exposed to traumas/disasters each year. In the military, traumatic events caused by training, war, and combat, are an expected part of life. Understanding individual, unit and community responses to traumas/disasters is critical to developing better ways to aid the rapid recovery of the exposed individuals/groups. This volume reviews the initial data from two 1989 disasters: the Sioux City, Iowa crash of United Flight 232 and the explosion in the USS Iowa gun turret. These studies focus on the short- and long-term reactions of the rescue workers and afford the opportunity to compare and contrast these disasters and their impact on rescue workers. Several features of the trauma affect people's responses: death of a loved one, threat to one's own life, warning vs. unexpected, displacement from one's home, exposure to the grotesque and the duration of exposure to the trauma. The Flight 232 crash and the USS Iowa explosion provide the opportunity to learn more about these factors. Both tragedies share many features but also differ in ways that may further elucidate factors influencing the impact of a disaster on a community