Coping with Katrina: human response to tragedy

Three centuries of New Orleans history once included Mardi Gras merrymaking, the birth of jazz music and expressions of voodoo before Hurricane Katrina landed ashore a week ago. \nIn less than one week, the once-proud 18th century French colony drowned below sea level as most of the city waded through an American cesspool of government inaction and public disbelief. \nAlthough the sinking of New Orleans underneath Katrina's oppressive rain has amused doomsday theorists for centuries, the reality of the hurricane's fallout has demonstrated unforeseen human responses to trauma and tragedy as America continues to cope with an ongoing humanitarian crisis. More than a half-million people are displaced and otherwise homeless after the Category 4 storm uprooted their living spaces. \n"In one sense, there's no sense in which preparedness will preclude the responses of psychological shock -- feelings of anger, fear and despair -- which is how human beings respond to trauma. No amount of preparation can prevent those responses," said Nancy Stockton, director of counseling and psychological services for the IU Health Center. "It's part of being human to struggle to comprehend the almost incomprehensible. There is an inherent unfairness, an inequality of human existence, and those who have a comfortable life should spend time thinking about and coming to terms with people all over the globe struggling to obtain the most basic human needs: thirst, hunger, shelter and disease prevention."\nHurricane Katrina has claimed an estimated 10,000 lives thus far, many due to inadequate care the first days after the storm, with thousands more expected, according to New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. \n"The first thing that jumps right out at you is how overwhelming the devastation is. Everything about it is so massive: the lack of resources, lack of response and the intensity of media coverage," said Kathleen Gilbert, associate professor of applied health science at IU. "You have people trapped on islands with no food and no water, just survival instincts. The first hot meal, the first bath and new clothes carry more meaning now than most people can believe. It's the basic stuff at first like finding what happened to people you love, then you can think about 'how am I going to get income?' to feed and clothe your family." \n Hundreds of New Orleans residents will even need to learn a new home ZIP code because their evacuation bus is bound for the unknown. Media reports have cited hundreds of instances of looting, rape and murder among the hundreds of thousands of citizens submerged knee-deep in the displacement effect of Katrina's aftermath. \nGilbert said the refugees most vulnerable to criminal acts during times of extreme desolation are parents with children because kids, especially infants, need a continual supply of baby food, diapers, pacifiers and knickknacks to occupy their time. She said she has challenged her students to think what they would do if they were responsible for feeding multiple mouths while stranded on a rooftop by emergency personnel for a week without support of any kind.\n"It's easier to maintain safety -- a 'this can't happen to me attitude' -- the more people distance this tragedy from themselves. Most of the people in New Orleans are law-abiding, sensible citizens but it is a poor city," Gilbert said. "People have been talking about looters stealing jewelry and wide-screen televisions, but most people are stealing food, shoes and medicine like insulin. They have children who haven't eaten for three days and desperate times call for desperate measures. People will do things in times like this to cope that you can't imagine law-abiding citizens doing." \nPhysical reactions to extreme acute stress in a time of natural or man-made disaster include headaches, hyperactivity, impulsive behavior and the desire to self-medicate through substance abuse, according to a Center for AIDS Prevention Studies pamphlet. Internal conflict and confusion associated with stress often affects cognitive concentration, problem-solving skills and decision-making abilities, while common emotional reactions include depression, helplessness and loss of control.\nMost of the poor Americans uprooted in the wake of Hurricane Katrina were forced to dismantle, shuffle or leave behind all semblance of their human identity, including sentimental artifacts, inherited property and collected possessions. Feelings of dire helplessness and utter disbelief have contributed, no doubt, to the suicide of some refugees and emergency personnel as an ultimate and definite coping mechanism. \nStockton said human interpersonal and group relationships often act as the primary buffer between human loss of will to live and human willingness to live through suffering. She said people who develop and maintain strong relationships often are better equipped to rebound from traumatic events, including those exemplifying Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or persistent elevated levels of stress. \n"We are all connected in some ways, and the best of our humanity is reflected in our concern for what is happening to people all over the world. One measure of a society's worth is how it looks after those members of a society with the fewest resources," Stockton said. "Learning about human suffering will make us better at responding. Allow yourself to feel shock and despair somewhat and then move on to active state of mind about what we can do now ... Resilience has helped play a role in the survival of Homo sapiens"