Disasters have always been known to bring about negative outcomes to the economy and people. However, numerous studies have mainly focused on the economic losses brought about by natural disasters leaving out the lived experiences of the victims. The aim of this literature review is to highlight the few studies that have focused on the lived experiences of the victims and highlight the gap existing on the direct impact of Hurricanes Maria and Irma on the survivor's lives. The studies used in the literature review will be accessed from various peer-reviewed article databases such as Google Scholar, EBSCO, among others. The articles in the literature review will be five years and older. There are hundreds of studies on the impacts of natural disasters such as Hurricanes across the globe. However, since the focus of this research is on the lived experiences of survivors following disasters, in this case, Hurricane Irma and Maria, these will not be reviewed in detail and will only be referred to as being appropriate.
Nakhaei et al. (2016) carried out a study basing on the grounded theory on 26 participants to ascertain the impact of participation as a key element towards life recovery following a disaster in Iran. According to the researchers, they found out that how a community “bounces back” from a disaster is what determines how the will respond to, prepare for and recover from any form of disaster. The study found out that a considerable number of disaster scientists and policymakers have tried coming up with strategies to help victims of disasters in getting through the trauma, however, the process has been marred by many difficulties and it has never been operational. The study was carried out in Iran following the large natural disasters that marred the nation in 2003, 2005, 2006 and the recent Azerbaijan earthquake in 2012. The study aimed to ascertain what happened to the victims of the disaster after the traumatic event. The researchers did not use quantitative methods in the study and relied on the grounded theory for life recovering after disasters is a multifaceted and subjective construct, and many factors influence its occurrence. The researchers found out that most victims of the disasters have many needs after the traumatic event such as comprehensive health recovery plans, financial aid and psychological assistance.
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Butler (2018) carried out a literature review study on climate change effects between 1989 and 2013 to ascertain the various risks to civilization brought about by the impacts. The study was based on 2143 articles that were analyzed from PubMed and Google Scholar. According to the researcher, an article published in 2009 in The Lancet and University College London Institute for Global Health Commission stated that climate change has negative health risks to the people and it was cited as being the biggest threat to humanity in the 21 st century. A similar study by Sorensen et al. (2018) was carried out to determine the risk of climate change on the health and various impacts and policies implemented. However, this study was mainly focused on the effect of climate change on women’s health. According to the study, the researchers found out that the natural disasters occurring because of climate change bring about decreased food security, reduced water quality, among others. However, the socioeconomic, cultural and physiologic vulnerabilities tend to differ between the men and women. The study found out that there is a lack of gender-disaggregated health data in understanding the harm exposure due lack of national, local and global awareness is what makes the women suffer more during natural disasters caused by climate change. The studies by Sorensen et al. (2018) and Butler (2018) found out that the lack of awareness on the effects of climate change is what has made it hard for formulating recovery strategies for disaster victims.
Nakhaei et al. (2015) carried out a similar study on the effects of disasters on women. The study was carried out between 2010-2012 on 20 participants (16 women and 4 men). The major reason for carrying out the study was to ascertain and understand what happened to the women following disasters and their experience. The study found out that the health providers and disasters planners are the major determinants of how women will live through various disasters. However, most of the disaster recovery procedures have never really focused on the needs of women in general but rather take a more generalized gender approach. According to the study, it found out that women tend to suffer from emotional impacts of loss, livelihood problems and marital conflicts, which affects their overall well-being and ability to cope with the disasters. The study was able to acknowledge the fact that there is very little effort made towards trying to understand the lived experiences of women after a disaster. The study cited that the availability of emergency nurses on the frontlines of any disaster occurrences would help in ensuring the women develop effective coping and resilience mechanisms. Shooshtaru et al. (2018) similarly carried out a study in various Iran cities; Tabriz, Mashhad, Tehran and Isfahan to determine the impacts of women during natural disasters and found out that their mental needs are multifactorial and go above only psychological variables. The study found out that it is only through a healthy gendered health plan strategy without any injustice, inequality or discrimination will women have an ability to cope from natural disasters.
Craddock et al. (2016) and Acosta et al. (2018) carried out studies to determine the lived experiences of those in the disaster recovery programs, in this case, the leaders. According to the study by Craddock et al. (2016), the study was carried out after Hurricane Sandy, and Irene damaged infrastructure, homes, and businesses. The study aimed to ascertain the local-level decision-makers lived experiences who were actively involved in the disaster recovery process. The study by Acosta et al. (2018), the study was focused mostly on the community leaders after a two-year follow-up study in New York following a storm. The two researchers cited that the information gathered from the community leaders was crucial in determining guidance for training, education and planning within a community when it comes to the recovery and responding to future natural disasters.
A study by Wright II & Wallace (2016) and Mearidy-Bell (2013) focused on the lived experiences of adolescents following natural disasters. According to the study by Wright II & Wallace (2016), it focused on African-American adolescents and their transition into adulthood. The study found out that the participants who were adolescents at the time of Hurricane Katrina had a tough transition into adulthood, as there was no recovery strategy put in place to assist them. A similar study by Rubens, Felix & Hambrick (2018) also found out that youth have a tough transition into adulthood following natural disasters. The study by Mearidy-Bell (2016) was focused on the behavioral changes of the adolescents and how it affected their transition into adulthood. The study found out that the adolescents suffer from social withdrawal, isolation, avoid relationships and increased rates of arguments with family and friends. The two studies conducted that policymakers must address the needs of adolescents who are victims of natural disasters. However, the two studies did not provide a strategy that can be used by the policymakers in addressing the traumatic experiences, which will help the victims in coping, resilience and stainability.
Thornley et al. (2015) carried out a study on six Canterbury communities located in New Zealand to determine the response of the community to earthquakes and ascertain factors that affected community resilience. Thornley et al. (2015) cited that the most important factor that helps victims live through natural disasters is community resilience. Resilience is defined as the ability of a society, community or individual to recover from, respond to and prevent the negative outcomes of a disaster. According to the study, it found out that the factors that affect community resilience following a disaster include; individual (well-being, survival skills), community (community connectedness, community infrastructure, community participation in disaster recovery and response) and societal (societal agencies external support, existing hardship exacerbation). However, the results used in the study were mainly based on the responses of community leaders, and thus they would have overstated the importance of having community organizations. The study did not focus on the responses of the actual victims of the disasters.
Welton-Mitchel et al. (2018) carried out a study to ascertain the need for having mental health preparedness following a disaster with the focus being Nepal after the 2015 earthquake. Other studies that have been carried out to ascertain the impact of disasters on the mental health include Welton-Mitchel et al. (2017), Galappatti &Richardson (2016), Adeola & Picou (2014), and Najafi et al. (2017). According to these studies, they supported the fact that a considerable number of natural disaster victims suffer from a myriad of mental health-related issues such as PTSD, mood disorders, depression and among other psychological disorders. Welton-Mitchell et al. (2018) found out that the lack of interventions after disasters is what exacerbates mental health issues, especially depression and PTSD. However, the study was not able to get the responses of participants in Nepal following the 2015 earthquake due to safety-related concerns. These areas would have provided the research with better result as they suffer from the greatest challenges in terms of mental health preparedness and treatment.
Roudini, Khankeh & Witruk (2017) carried out a systematic review of articles that have focused on disaster mental health preparedness. The main aim of carrying out the study was to ascertain how a community should prepare their mental health in the event of natural disasters. Studies by Fergusson et al .(2014) and Hayes et al. (2018) found out that mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression and PTSD affect the quality of life and proper functioning of an individual in the event of disasters. A similar study by Clay et al. (2014) found out that people who suffer from such mental health-related disorders are the greatest risk of suffering following natural disasters. A study by McCabe et al. (2014) also found out that natural disasters tend to increase the levels of PTSD, anxiety, depression and psychotropic medication use in natural disaster victims. According to the study by Roudini et al. (2017), there is need to have in place disasters preparedness strategies that will assist the victims of natural disasters. Burke (2014) who noted there is need to have natural disaster funding aimed at restoring the mental health and well-being of the community-supported these findings.
Bartholdson & Von Schreeb (2018) carried out a study to ascertain the impacts injuries caused by natural disasters on the lives of the victims. The study was based on a systematic review of articles related to the surgical needs and injury patterns of the victims. According to the researchers, within the last ten years, more than 2 billion people have become victims of natural disasters such as wildfires, landslides, volcanic eruptions extreme temperatures, earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, floods and hurricanes. The study found out those different natural disasters results in varying injury patterns, and the natural disasters that cause severe injuries are earthquakes. A study carried out by Homma et al. (2016) also cited landslides cause severe injuries to the victims according to a case study of such a disaster in Ohsima Tokyo, Japan. The study found out that the major challenge-affecting victims of natural disasters are speedy surgical care for serious injuries. This was also supported by a similar study carried out by Baxter et al. (2017) on the human survival rates of volcanic eruption victims. The arrival of outside help takes too long and thus many lives are not saved in the process.
Labra, Maltais & Gingras-Lacroix (2018) carried out a study to determine the negative impacts of natural disasters on the health of the elderly population. The study as focused on the victims of the Chile earthquake that occurred on February 27, 2010, and involved 26 participants aged 56-81. According to the study, the researchers found out that the participants experienced a variety of emotions such as terror, panic, stupefaction and the fear of imminent death. For some of the participants, they cited facing deteriorating health after the incident and the most cited health effect was sleeping disorders. Similar studies by Garcia et al. (2016), Yotsui, Campbell & Honmai (2016), Cui & Sim (2017) and Heid et al.(2016) similarly found out that the elderly population suffer from a range of mental health disorders after the natural disasters the most common ones being depression and PTSD. Similarly, the study by Labra et al. (2018) found out that the older generation suffers from other physical conditions after disasters such as hyperthyroidism, fibromyalgia, hypertension and muscle and bone pain and this affect their ability to cope after the traumatic events. However, the study should have involved older adults who have not been victims of disasters in order to determine and better differentiate between health conditions associated with ageing and those resulting from being exposed to traumatic events.
Tennyson and Diala (2018) conducted a case study using a sample of 24 participants aged 25 years and above who were victims of hurricanes in New York and New Jersey. The participants were victims of Hurricane Sandy that struck the USA on October 29, 2012 leading to the death of 72 people and economic losses amount to over $30 billion. The aim of the study was to determine why a majority of Americans do not prepare for natural disasters and what this inaction has on their experience after natural disasters. The study found out that that inaction towards disaster preparedness has negative impacts on the lives of the participants. The main reason for not preparing for natural disasters as cited by the participants was lack of communication about imminent disasters by the relevant agencies in the USA.
Witruk et al. (2014) carried out a study to ascertain how affected, and non-affected people dealt with an earthquake disaster. The study was carried out in South Java, and data was gathered about pone year following the May 2006 volcanic eruption and earthquake. The study focused on four main objectives the psychopathological symptoms, disasters attribution, coping style and belief in just world between the non-affected and affected people in Indonesia. According to the study results, it found out that psychological affectedness is similar across the affected and non-affected people. However, the affected people tend to suffer the most, and it is crucial for them to find the best coping strategy that will enable them continue with their lives especially if they lost loved ones in a disaster. However, the study relied on self-reports, and thus this might have brought about carry-effects that might have resulted in biases. Similarly, the study focused on psychopathological symptoms in determining the impacts of natural disasters on affected and non-affected people, yet this is an intra-individual state of mind, and thus the judgments made by other people makes it inadequate to determine the trustworthiness.
According to a study by Akanayake et al. (2013), it focused on how people cope with loss and grief following natural disasters. The study found out that the upward hydro-meteorological trend is the major cause for the increasing natural disasters across the globe. The disasters lead to thousands experiencing immense losses accompanied by substantial economic and social hardship. The researcher cited that key interest of most researchers who study natural disasters and their impacts on communities has been the comping and resilience mechanism. In their study, they used a sample of 38 participants and travelled that most of the coping mechanisms were based on trying to restore back their emotions after grief and loss and this was enabled by sharing their stories with others. Religion was also a crucial element in helping the victims cope with traumatic events. The study also found out that the relief supports are at times, unfair and corrupt.
Sveen et al. (2018) conducted a study to ascertain prolonged grief one to six years following a natural disaster amongst victims. The researchers cited that the main reason for carrying out the study was that most studies had initially focused on PTSD after natural disasters instead of the grief the researchers cited that victims of natural disasters tend to adjust to new lives after losing loved ones, however, significant minority will go through an intensive and persistent grieve period. According to the study, there are only two studies that have focused on the various grief patterns amongst disaster victims up to date (Djelantic et al., 2017; Nam, 2015). The aim of the study a stop fills this gap in research. The study found out that the strongest predictor for prolonged grief amongst victims was the loss of a child. This was also supported by a study by Zetumer et al. (2015) who found out that the rapture of attachment and nature of parent-child bonding is what makes loss of child more detrimental. However, the major weakness in this study as that the response rate from the participants was at 49% limiting the ability of the study to generalize its findings to the entire population.
Baral& Bhagawati (2019) and Cofini et al. (2015) carried out studies to determine the PTSD and coping strategies of adult survivors who had been victims of earthquakes in Nepal and Italy respectively. According to the study by Baral & Bhagawati (2019), it involved a sample of 2891 adult survivors after the 2015 Nepal earthquake and the study by Cofini et al. (2015) involved a sample of 281 participants. The studies found out that PTSD is most prevalent amongst adult survivors. The survivors without PTSD had a more adaptive coping mechanism unlike those with PTSD. From the two studies, it is an indication that natural disasters impact the mental health of survivors of natural disasters and this supports the study. A study by Maini et al. (2017) was carried out to determine how the Sendai Framework can be used in reducing disaster based risks. According to the researchers, the Sendai framework was developed to ensure it eliminates disaster-based mortalities and improve the health and outcomes of the victims.
According to the literature review of the above studies, it is evident that natural disasters indeed bring about negative impacts on the lives of the victims. The victims are forced to cope and become resilient following the disasters whether it is living through grief or loss or at times both. However, most of the studies have relied on quantitative methods when analyzing coping and resilience strategies. The only study that used a qualitative methodology was carried out in 2004 and was carried out in India. Since then, a considerable number of studies have focused mostly on quantitative methods that have relied on standardized scales in assessing the coping, resilience and stainability of victims. The current study aims at filling this gap, as it will use in-depth methods in exploring in more detail how the victims of disasters manage to live through the traumatic events.
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