When disaster strikes, how do we respond?
ABC Television's Compass on June 1 reported
on bearing witness: the burden borne by newsmen and women who put
themselves on the frontline of conflict and tragedy in the course
of their work.
The program asked, What sustains them? How do they deal with trauma?
Veteran ABC TV reporter Philip Williams was still dealing with the
aftermath of the September 2004 school siege at Beslan.
He interviewed other Australian journalists who had been witnesses
to terrible world events - a "journey into the darkness in
the soul" of the men and women whose job it is to report events
that most of us could not bear to experience.
Williams said he lived with the images of "things I wish I'd
never seen".
He felt rage that "as a human being, as an individual, I could
do nothing to protect those children". He described his shock
and anger as a direct and honest response to a horrifying situation.
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
"I've seen the result in myself of not letting it out, of
not dealing with it as it happens, and I've seen what's happened
to some of my colleagues."
Legendary Vietnam War correspondent Tim Page paid a high price.
He went everywhere, covered everything and saw too much.
He was wounded three times and took the full force of a landmine
that took 25 percent of his brain. But it was the hidden impact
of the horrors he'd witnessed that would live with him forever.
Sally Sara worked for many years in Africa for the ABC. Memories
of the killing in Uganda were still vivid: an absolutely appalling
combination of an insane conflict and children.
She said, "A lot of the most difficult things happen off camera.
It's not the pictures that you would necessarily put into your story
that are the ones that you remember."
Kimina Lyall, a correspondent in South-East Asia, was relaxing
at her holiday house at a beach in Thailand on Boxing Day 2004 when
disaster struck.
As the waves crashed in, she saw people swept away.
"The decisions that I made in those hours and day after the
tsunami are the ones that have haunted me the most and have led
to essentially the end of my career."
Her partner stayed with her as she set about her work but that
meant "being exposed to bodies and bodies and bodies and bodies
and more bodies. Getting progressively uglier and uglier as the
days went on. In those days after the tsunami I was just quite clearly
in acute trauma."
For Tim Page, "There's always going to be ghosts, whatever
that means; there's always going to be horrors."
Williams asked, "Why would a journalist going to cover a war
or traumatic event be any less affected by that event than the soldiers
or the emergency workers? Or perhaps even, to a degree, the victims
themselves?
"We're in there. We're seeing it all. We're recording it. We're reliving it. We're editing it. Of course we're going to feel it. And we do."
Aftershocks from the front line
In recent times our society has become increasingly aware of its
vulnerability to loss and large-scale devastation through disasters
of human and natural origin.
And not just disasters overseas - tsunamis and terrorist bombings.
Disasters such as the recent Kerang rail crash, floods on the east
coast of New South Wales and the Sydney Harbour ferry accident not
only affect the victims, but also those on the front line of help.
A book launched in Sydney earlier this year explores the realities
of trauma ministry, the training of church-based caregivers and
the issues of post-traumatic stress and recovery.
The book, Ministry in Disaster Settings: Lessons from the Edge,
written by Uniting Church minister the Rev. Dr Stephen Robinson,
provides insight into the effect of disaster on clergy and points
to the biblical hope that can be offered to hurting people and those
who try to help them.
Dr Robinson has been involved as a fire chaplain with the Rural
Fire Service since 1996 and is the Uniting Church's representative
on the New South Wales State Disaster Recovery Committee.
His book is based on interviews with over 15 ministers, chaplains
and trauma workers. Many had involvement in large-scale disasters
such as Granville, Thredbo and Port Arthur.
Dr Robinson says he found that many working in emergency service
chaplaincy had "stumbled" into it and, like the journalists
in the Compass program, were still wearing emotional and spiritual
scars from it.
The book describes disaster trauma ministry, the price paid in
it and how to prepare and survive as well as possible. One section
is devoted to biblical case studies and theology viewed from the
perspective of trauma.
In the forward, Ray Anderson, Senior Professor of Theology and
Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary, says, "What makes
the book credible rather than merely a theoretical piece of work,
is the in-depth analysis of actual ministry in disaster settings."
Speaking at the launch of the book, Dr Robinson said the church
had a primary role in "being there" in times of crisis
and hardship and in caring for the carers.
He thought the book would be valuable for ministers and their educators,
denominational leaders responsible for caring for ministers, church
members who wanted to know what ministry was about, and clinical
psychologists.
Guest speaker at the launch was retired Chief Inspector Gary Raymond,
who was on duty at the Granville train disaster, Thredbo landslide
disaster, the Newcastle earthquake, Luna Park ghost train fire and
Hilton Hotel bombing.
He said that secular psychology gave some answers in responding
to trauma but was only a work in progress. In the context of John
3:16, those responding to trauma must realise it is a ministry,
he said.
Disaster response needed to address three areas, he said: preparedness
(the assumption that there will be large events that require care),
crisis management and consequence management.
Those affected could be grouped in three categories: primary (victims
of trauma), secondary (witnesses of those being traumatised) and
tertiary (those not there but affected).
It was not just what you saw, he said. It was also what you smelled,
what you heard or the horrible silences when things should be heard.
It was what you touched and what touched you.
"The extreme danger ... the sensory stimuli ... lays heavily
on us - and flashes back on us."
He said the memory of an event, with time to think, had consequences.
Carers needed to consider if there was a build up of cumulative
effects, if there were coping mechanisms, and how they could care
for themselves as well as others.
He said his work at scenes of disasters had taught him that trusting
Christ in all circumstances, by faith and not by sight, was where
the truth lay.
Dr Robinson's book was one of hope, he said. It would help to equip
the saints in God's work.
Mr Raymond said that in trauma you get an opportunity to see God
in action - like the bikie who exclaimed, "Good onya, God!"
when a baby was delivered after its mother was saved from the wreckage
of a car accident in Taylor Square, Sydney.
People nowadays saw God as a genie to be thrown back in the bottle
when they didn't need him, he said. But people should have a relationship
with God, where God was with them all the time.
"We have a God who not only knows but is also acquainted with our grief. He understands our grief and weeps with us."
Peer support
Ministry in Disaster Settings has already been used in the New South
Wales Synod for peer support training.
Moderator Jim Mein said the two days training he attended earlier
this year were appreciated by the seven participants, one of whom
was Mark Watt, the officiating minister at the funeral of the Bragg
family, who died during violent weather in the Central Coast in
June.
At the meeting of presbytery disaster response coordinators, men
and women were trained and updated about the Uniting Church's involvement
in the State Disaster Plan and how they could support congregations
and the communities to which they related.
Dr Robinson said the Synod for some years had a network of presbytery
disaster contacts who liaised with the Moderator about how they
have been affected.
The Uniting Church had only recently addressed the need for peer
support, but Dr Robinson said, "What we are doing now is a
real model for the other mainstream denomination as they become
more aware of duty of care."
Mr Mein said, "I always stress the importance of being prepared
for the inevitable, even though the nature of the inevitable disaster
can never be reliably predicted. They can be man-made such as rail,
air and road accidents, terrorism or shootings; or "acts of
God" such as flood, fire or drought.
"No presbytery is immune from the possibility of a disaster. The Synod's response is to prepare, encourage and train coordinators and to create awareness among presbyteries of the need for such coordinators."
For more information see http://www.emergencyministry.com.au/, http://nsw.uca.org.au/disaster-response/ or contact Stephen Robinson by email at stephen@lpuc.org.au, emergencyministry@lpuc.org.au or call (02) 9153 8653 or 0412 820 848.