RAPID: Psychological and Social Resilience in Post-Earthquake Nepal

这一快速项目解决了人们如何应对灾害和随后的救援工作的关键问题。灾难出乎意料地发生在世界任何地方，而且是无法避免的。研究世界某一地区的灾害有助于理解灾害如何展开以及其他地方的人们如何应对灾害，因为它们有着广泛的相似之处。尽管灾害研究已经有了相当大的发展，但在信息丢失之前，通过快速有效地收集信息，仍然有很多需要学习的东西。例如，获得资源或足智多谋在抗灾能力方面发挥重要作用吗？该项目将提供极有价值的信息，将指导未来对美国和国外所有类型的灾难的反应。维克森林大学的Steven J.Folmar博士将探讨尼泊尔在4月25日及随后的地震后的灾难应对和心理健康恢复能力。该项目的主要目标是确定灾难受害者如何应对危机，追踪一些人经历情感创伤而另一些人表现出韧性的途径。调查员将对尼泊尔Lamjung区不同社会阶层、城乡社区的人们进行研究，这些社区经历了4月地震造成的不同程度的破坏。调查员将从以下方面收集数据：1)直接观察救灾工作；2)采访100人，讲述他们在地震和灾后的经历；3)调查300名青年的心理健康状况，并将他们目前的心理健康指标与之前研究中的措施进行比较。由于随着时间的推移，关于灾民如何经历灾后恢复的关键数据已经丢失，因此必须尽快收集数据。关于智力价值，在恢复期而不是恢复期之后收集经验信息，使调查者能够发展理论，直接反映幸存者的第一手信息，这在灾难研究中是罕见的。在更广泛的社会影响方面，该项目的成果将有助于为全球救灾工作提供信息，增强幸存者的复原力，并通过在最需要的时候与非政府组织和尼泊尔政府分享研究结果，促进制定急需的精神卫生应对工作。最后，它将为研究人员提供进行类似研究的培训。

This RAPID project addresses critical questions of how people respond to disasters and subsequent relief efforts. Disasters strike unexpectedly, anywhere in the world, and are not possible to avoid. The study of disasters in one part of the world contributes to understanding how they unfold and how people respond to them elsewhere because of the broad similarities they share. Although disaster research has grown considerably, there is still much to learn by collecting information quickly and efficiently, before it is lost. For example, does access to resources or resourcefulness play a great role in disaster resiliency? This project will provide information of great value that will guide future response to disasters of all types in the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Steven J. Folmar of Wake Forest University will explore disaster response and mental-health resiliency in Nepal following the April 25 and subsequent earthquakes. The main goal of this project is to determine how disaster victims respond to crises, tracing the pathways by which some people experience emotional trauma while others demonstrate resilience. The investigator will conduct research on people from different sectors of society, in urban and rural communities in Lamjung District, Nepal that have experienced varying degrees of destruction caused by the April earthquake. The investigator will collect data from 1) direct observation of relief efforts, 2) interviewing 100 individuals recounting their earthquake and post-disaster experience, and 3) surveying mental health status among 300 youth and comparing current measures of their mental health with measures taken from them during a previous study. Since, with the passing of time, critical data on how disaster recovery is experienced by victims are lost, it is imperative to gather data as soon as feasible. Regarding intellectual merit, collecting empirical information during, not after, the period of recovery equips the investigator to develop theory that directly reflects first-hand information from survivors, which is rare in disaster research. In terms of broader societal impacts, results from this project will help inform global disaster relief efforts, enhance the resilience of survivors and contribute to the development of much-needed mental health response efforts through the sharing of findings with NGOs and the Government of Nepal at the time they are needed most. Lastly, it will provide training for researchers to conduct similar studies.