Role Of Social Support In Disaster Stress

The Role of Social Support in Disaster Stress
Imagine two vulnerable communities hit by a Category 4 typhoon. At the aftermath of that typhoon, there was no electricity available, all communication lines are down, food supply are running out and wherever you look at, there are uprooted trees and damaged houses. Everything was simply chaotic and the people are becoming hopeless. However, at the onset of recovery what makes the two communities starkly different from each other is the level of social support that was emanating from the people and from the government. In Community A, people are helping each other through sharing food and other resources to the ones who were badly affected. The government’s relief operations were also quick in this community. On the contrary, in Community B, people are aloof to the needs of their neighbors. The government was also slow in responding, hence relief operations were delayed. In this illustration, one can see the vital role of social support, both coming from the community and government, in people’s effort to cope with the overwhelming impact of disaster. One can see that in order for people to be resilient and bounce back again, they need agencies to count on and “a shoulder to lean on”, thus social support …show more content…
Moreover, this can be done also by efficient delivery of social support services and strengthening of communal bonds. Through this, social support can fulfill its central role of maintaining the social cohesion, helping people and communities recover and building confidence to the government. After all, at the end of the day, the success of building resilient citizens and communities depends on the degree of social support that the government and community provide to its