Culture and Psychosocial Elements Impacting on Disaster Recovery: Response in Indonesia

Natural disasters are common place in the world but the 2004 tsunami created a critical mass of WFOT member countries confronted by the monumental destructive forces of nature. Destroyed were environments and the natural occupations central to the lifestyle of citizens. Working within the WFOT Disaster Preparedness and Recovery Framework, two Indonesia occupational therapists one working in Aceh, Sumatra and the other responding to a major earthquake in south central Java (2006) were confronted by psychosocial and cultural issues which affected their assistance efforts. The unique cultural perspectives of these two distinct Indonesian geographic areas presented some very different and unique challenges. The first author worked with the two therapists to identify the critical phenomena experienced in accommodating psychosocial barriers. The analysis serves to increase knowledge transfer. Highlighted is the important contribution the profession makes to interpreting more sensitively social phenomena and its impact on disaster recovery process.