Service Learning Report Religious Responses to Disaster

Hurricane Katrina left residents of New Orleans desperate in many ways; they were deprived of their homes, separated from family members, and forced to work their way through seemingly endless paperwork to apply for aid. Though the initial problem of physical destruction may have taken precedence over emotional grievances, I think that the people of New Orleans ’ psychological needs were overlooked and never fully remedied. People felt abandoned by God and abandoned by the government. They felt as though the people they were supposed to turn to for help in the most dire of circumstances had turned their backs. Victims needed physical aid but they also longed for emotional support. Since the storm, a lot of attention has been focused on how to rebuild the city and fix the physical damage left in Katrina’s path. Only recently has the emotional distress of victims (and the psychological ramifications of the storm) even been acknowledged. Health care and social care workers now openly acknowledge the increase in physical and emotional problems prevalent among survivors of Katrina. Post-traumatic stress disorder is common among survivors of Katrina and physical ailments are now being associated with the unbelievable stress and sleep deprivation experienced by victims in the aftermath of the storm