ABSTRACT
This chapter explores four selected encounters with traumatic death: natural disaster, terrorism, suicide, and homicide. Each of them speaks of flesh-and-blood experience with trauma and traumatic death. The chapter begins with a discussion of natural disasters, a type of traumatic death often depicted on the evening news. Indeed, vicarious exposure the traumatic death via the media is pervasive. Key types of natural disaster that result in widespread traumatic death include (in order of their frequency): floods, windstorms, geological disasters (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tidal waves), and droughts and related disasters (extreme temperatures and wildfires). The chapter discusses how these events tend to disproportionately affect vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income parts of the world. It briefs the ways that have been found to ameliorate the impacts, that is the disaster preparedness and resilience, or the ability of people to bounce back after experiencing blows, like those caused by natural disasters.
