Community social work in times of natural disasters

This paper looks at the roles and challenges of social workers before, during and after natural disasters, presenting practical examples from several different parts of the world. Part of the paper focuses on supporting social workers in providing various forms of assistance to victims of natural disasters by presenting the results of previous research in this area and proposals for improving the system of support for social workers working with victims of natural disasters. There are several roles of social workers in natural disasters: participation in the care of the evacuated population, search and rescue, development and rehearsal of a disaster evacuation plan, advocates for the rights of victims of natural disasters, especially for vulnerable groups, creating support groups, collecting donations for victims, informing the community and the ruling political party about social problems, inequalities, and programs and policies that could alleviate them and social service providers. In the context of natural disasters, support for social workers needs to be provided immediately from domestic and international sources because a natural disaster affects everyone, including social workers on a personal and material level. Social workers need assistance directly (by providing assistance on site), indirectly (by sending additional staff and goods to the site of the natural disaster) and at the infrastructural level, which includes restoring transport links to the rest of the country, and providing free or subsidized electricity, telecommunications and other services for the population of the affected area (Snowbar, 2020). These forms of support make it easier for victims to cope with the consequences of a natural disaster and consequently make it easier for social workers to carry out the work, interventions and services on the site after a natural disaster.This paper looks at the roles and challenges of social workers before, during and after natural disasters, presenting practical examples from several different parts of the world. Part of the paper focuses on supporting social workers in providing various forms of assistance to victims of natural disasters by presenting the results of previous research in this area and proposals for improving the system of support for social workers working with victims of natural disasters. There are several roles of social workers in natural disasters: participation in the care of the evacuated population, search and rescue, development and rehearsal of a disaster evacuation plan, advocates for the rights of victims of natural disasters, especially for vulnerable groups, creating support groups, collecting donations for victims, informing the community and the ruling political party about social problems, inequalities, and programs and policies that could alleviate them and social service providers. In the context of natural disasters, support for social workers needs to be provided immediately from domestic and international sources because a natural disaster affects everyone, including social workers on a personal and material level. Social workers need assistance directly (by providing assistance on site), indirectly (by sending additional staff and goods to the site of the natural disaster) and at the infrastructural level, which includes restoring transport links to the rest of the country, and providing free or subsidized electricity, telecommunications and other services for the population of the affected area (Snowbar, 2020). These forms of support make it easier for victims to cope with the consequences of a natural disaster and consequently make it easier for social workers to carry out the work, interventions and services on the site after a natural disaster