A study to determine the psychological consequences of Tsunami among Tsunami-affected people of Kollam district, Kerala

The progress and development of a country depends upon the conditions of rural folks - Villages are primary units for the development of a nation. Tsunami is one of the natural calamity created lots of socio- psycho changes in rural folk, especially people living in coastal area. Many policies and programmes came to overcome this pathetic picture of people. In this context a study on psychological consequences after tsunami will give a greater insight into the effectiveness of various remedial measures taken by the government and existing scenario.

The objective of the study was to identify the psychological consequences of Tsunami among Tsunami-affected people of Kollam district, Kerala 3 years following the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

The study used a descriptive survey design with purposive sampling method to collect data on psychological consequences among 246 Tsunami-affected people by using self administered questionnaire.

The percentages of affected people having psychological consequences varied from mild to severe levels. Most of the Tsunami-affected people would get easily irritated (12.6%), sad most of the time(21.5%), had guilty feelings as they could not save their loved ones’ life (39% always & 34.6% occasionally), but only few (3.7%) opted suicide as a solution always. Psychological consequences significantly differed with variables like home structure before tsunami (p=0.018), present home structure(p=0.002), social participation after Tsunami(p=0.044), impact they had encountered(p=0.001), satisfaction with the mental health support they received after the Tsunami(p=0.001), loss of loved ones(p=0.011) and initiation of substance abuse (p=0.002).

This study provides an initial look into the psychological consequences of Tsunami affected people in the rehabilitation phase. The study findings indicate that psychological consequences persists in the affected people long after the disaster. Some of the people felt lots of difficulties at the time of rehabilitation. The facilities provided by the government through rehabilitation itself got greater influence on psychological consequences of Tsunami.