THE ROLE OF SOCIAL WORKER- POST DISASTER SITUATION

Social workers should play a significant role in information sharing with communities, shelter
provision, and education and mobilisation of communities before, during and after disasters.
They should work with communities to plan, educate, and advocate for vulnerable groups;
provide counselling; collaborate with other stakeholders; provide therapy and education on
safety measures; conduct research; ensure the welfare of survivors;, and help the affected to cope
and receive welfare assistance.
Social workers can play a potentially key role in disaster recovery by facilitating community
development, restoring livelihoods, providing psychosocial support, and building capacity in
local communities. There is also a need to build capacity in the social work profession for the
integration of social, economic and environmental dimensions in policy and practice, and to
develop curricula to better prepare social workers for the challenges ahead.
1. Damage assessment and information gathering
2. Providing moral support
3. Disaster Response
4. Disaster Recovery
5. Rehabilitation of Victims
1. Damage assessment and Information Gathering Human Loss
To identify immediate emergency needs, injuries and deaths just after disaster, gather additional
information. Gathering essential health data to provide rapid and effective medical relief to
populations devastated by the effects of a disaster. Material loss: Damage assessment conducted
in depth, the government is committed and comprehensive damage assessment of all houses,
buildings and public infrastructure in the earthquake-stricken areas. Provide more accurate
damage assessment account of the rehabilitation needs, and formed the basis of large-scale
engineering and building strategy. The participation of the private sector and state government
recognizes the power private sector and NGOs in dealing with the enormous challenges of
reconstruction. Social workers need to help settle vulnerable people, including daily life
arrangement, guidance, grief therapy and counselling, life care, integration non-governmental
resources, improving community cohesion, rebuilding families and communities.
2. Moral support
a) Situational supporting
Usually people lose the supportive systems when occur earthquake. The systems that have being
entailed love, confidence and assurance. Therefore, social worker should prepare supportive
groups to clients in working with survivors of earthquake. The social workers do group social
work for reach to above purpose and in this way; they accumulate the survivors to group. The
survivors integrate their experiments and feelings in adjacency of each other. Usually, this skill is
used to helping clients for psychiatric empty and prevention of emotional reaction.
b) Hopefulness making
The hope is a basic antidote and the achievement agent to goals. The hope calm individual and
he/she feel that there is lifeline in future .Generally, the despair and depression are the normal
reaction of disaster and crisis. Therefore, the first stage for making hopefulness is emotional and
functional evaluation of client. Then, social worker encourages the client for starting activities
and mobilizing his/her abilities. The encouragement of client, minimize his/her disinterestedness
feeling, inability and despair. In addition, the conceptual skills and rational discussions should be
used for acquainting of client from despair and self- disinterestedness feeling. The social workers
should use various methods for reinforcing client and selecting new programs. The urgent refer
to psychiatrist or psychologist is necessary when these methods cannot change the
disappointment attitudes and thought disorder is perceived.
c) Consoling
The consoling is ancient and helpful approach to appeasing the bereaved clients. Especially, this
skill is favourable for clients who believe to religious duties and afterlife. The social worker may
be use clergy for making hopefulness and appeasing the individuals. Because, this religious
communication is one of the best tools that habituate the grief reaction in clients so far as they
are appeased, empowered and reactivated.
d) Solutions Developing
The social worker tries to concentrating client to variety and rational solutions or proffer to client
the possible solutions. In this way, the social worker supports the client at first until decrease
his/her anxiety and then help him/her for realistic understanding disaster. Finally, the worker
guides client to helpful manner that he/she adjusts to situation and solves his/her problems.
3. Disaster Response
Disaster response is the second phase of the disaster management cycle. It consists of a number
of elements, for example; warning/evacuation, search and rescue, providing immediate
assistance, assessing damage, continuing assistance and the immediate restoration of
infrastructure.The aim of emergency response is to provide immediate assistance to maintain life,
improve health and support the morale of the affected population. Such assistance may range
from providing specific but limited aid, such as assisting refugees with transport, temporary
shelter, and food, to establishing semi-permanent settlement in camps and other locations. It also
may involve initial repairs to damaged infrastructure. The focus in the response phase is on
meeting the basic needs of the people until more permanent and sustainable solutions can be
found. The main responsibility to address these needs and respond to a disaster lies with the
government or governments in whose territory the disaster has occurred. In addition,
Humanitarian organizations are often strongly present in this phase of the disaster management
cycle, particularly in countries where the government lacks the resources to respond adequately
to the needs.
4. Disaster Recovery
As the emergency is brought under control, the affected population is capable of undertaking a
growing number of activities aimed at restoring their lives and the infrastructure that supports
them. There is no distinct point at which immediate relief changes into recovery and then into
long-term sustainable development. There will be many opportunities during the recovery period
to enhance prevention and increase preparedness, thus reducing vulnerability. Ideally, there
should be a smooth transition from recovery to on-going development.
Recovery activities continue until all systems return to normal or better. Recovery measures,
both short and long term, include returning vital life-support systems to minimum operating
standards; temporary housing; public information; health and safety education; reconstruction;
counseling programs; and economic impact studies. Information resources and services include
data collection related to rebuilding, and documentation of lessons learned.
a) Early Recovery
In recovery, the affected population is in a more stable period of transition. They have a place to
get food and water and a temporary or transitional shelter that can withstand wind and rain. They
can go about their daily lives, beginning to resume some kind of normal existence. Children go
back to school—though their classes may be held in a church, a tent, or some other temporary
accommodation. Those affected may not have yet recovered fully, but they have begun to adapt
to a “new normal.” Early recovery can last any number of weeks or months—even years. While
the phases from relief to recovery may follow a similar pattern, the timeline for how quickly a
particular community follows this path may depend on its initial vulnerability, access to
resources, adaptability, and other considerations.
b) Medium to Long-Term Recovery
During medium to long-term recovery, the work of building permanent physical structures to
replace tents, trailers, or plywood houses begins, as does restoration of social structures. As
permanent housing is being rebuilt, the social fabric of communities is strengthened. Children
are returning to school buildings. Adults have renewed opportunities to improve their livelihoods
and restore their family economies. Life is finally beginning to feel stable once more.
5. Rehabilitation of Victims
The role of social worker in rehabilitation of victims of Natural Disasters is very important as
they need physical and psychological support in order to achieve dignified life aftermath of
crisis. Natural Disaster produces significant impact on the life of sufferers. Loss of life, property,
disability, death results mental agony. Medical Social Worker plays a significant role by working
in systematic and methodological approach.
a)”Build Back Better”
Principle rehabilitation is carried out weeks and months after the disaster. It involves the
restoration of basic services (e.g., communications, commuter transportation, electricity for
homes),infrastructure (e.g. Road, sand, bridges, schools),and livelihood. The goal of this phase is
not only to restore what existed previously but also to set communities on a better and safer
development path and to facilitate resilient recovery.
b) Community-Based Needs Assessments
In order to come up with a proper and acceptable program for recovery and rehabilitation, it is
also important to understand the felt needs of affected communities. Consulting affected
populations through interviews prior to any recovery program ensures public acceptance and
support of any planned endeavour. A needs assessment helps prioritize particular areas that need
the most immediate action for rehabilitation; a.Infrastructure and Services, b. Community
Livelihood, c. Priorities for Habitat Restoration
c) Social and Community Development
Reconstruction of hospitals, community health centers, primary health centers primary health
sub-centers reconstruction and repair of primary and secondary schools social protection for
orphans, widows, handicapped and marginalized groups repair and reconstruction of institutions
of higher education and technical Improved infrastructure rehabilitation of buildings and private
conservation and heritage buildings.