ABSTRACT
Being a disaster victim at least once during one’s lifetime is more than a remote possibility. Between 1971 and 1980, 326 events were declared major natural disasters by presidential edict and resulted in 2,100 deaths and 72,000 injuries (Gordon, 1982). These figures do not include deaths and injuries resulting from technological (human-error) disasters, such as airplane crashes, fires, and industrial accidents. Although natural disasters are commonly thought to be single episodes, they are more likely to be a series of catastrophic events that include stress-producing warnings, life-threatening impacts, and prolonged traumatic recoveries, including perceived lack of control of future disastrous events.
