ABSTRACT
Emerging from the post-disaster utopia in which help was given freely and could be accepted without compunction, the disaster victim resumes his stance of sturdy self-help, but often perhaps with covert feelings of regret. The breakdown of the post-disaster utopia is exemplified in the attitudes towards organized relief agencies. Suspicions arise about people who readily accept the help of relief agencies. The procedures of relief agencies in investigating the circumstances of applicants often arouse resentment. Disaster victims feel that, instead of their losses being acknowledged and giving them a clear right to compensation, they are put in the position of ordinary applicants for charity whose claims are regarded with suspicion. In contrast to the feelings of gratitude of victims towards those who first come to their aid with generosity, there is later often the feeling that relief agencies are unduly concerned with getting credit for their work, advertising themselves, and pushing aside competing organizations.
