Caring for your own emotional well-being - Psychosocial Care of Tsunami-Affected Populations

Workers participating in rescue and relief work after a disaster are exposed to stress which may affect their own emotional well-being. It has been observed and documented that relief workers develop stress-related problems during their work and even after relief work is over.

Supervisors must make sure that field workers are properly briefed about what to expect in the situations where they are going. Many community- level workers will never have seen mutilated bodies or misery in such a large scale as in disasters. They must be appropriately counselled on these matters before they start their work.