TY - JOUR

T1 - Health and social impacts of flood disaster

T2 - responding to needs and implications for practice.

AU - Carroll, Bob

AU - Balogh, Ruth

AU - Morbey, Hazel

AU - Araoz, Gonzalo

PY - 2010/10

Y1 - 2010/10

N2 - Carlisle in northwest England suffered its worse floods for more than 180 years in 2005. A study, reported here, was undertaken to assess the health and social impacts of these floods via in-depth, taped individual and focus-group interviews with people whose homes had been flooded and with agency workers who helped them. Respondents spoke of physical health ailments, psychological stress, water health-and-safety issues related to the floods, and disputes with insurance and construction companies, which they felt had caused and exacerbated psychological health problems. Support workers also suffered from psychological stress. Furthermore, it was found that people had low expectations of a flood and were not prepared. The findings are presented in five sections covering flood risk awareness, water contamination issues, physical health, mental health, and impact on frontline support workers. The discussion focuses on the implications of the findings for policy and practice vis-à-vis psychological health provision, contamination issues, training and support for frontline support workers, matters relating to restoration, and preparation for flooding.

AB - Carlisle in northwest England suffered its worse floods for more than 180 years in 2005. A study, reported here, was undertaken to assess the health and social impacts of these floods via in-depth, taped individual and focus-group interviews with people whose homes had been flooded and with agency workers who helped them. Respondents spoke of physical health ailments, psychological stress, water health-and-safety issues related to the floods, and disputes with insurance and construction companies, which they felt had caused and exacerbated psychological health problems. Support workers also suffered from psychological stress. Furthermore, it was found that people had low expectations of a flood and were not prepared. The findings are presented in five sections covering flood risk awareness, water contamination issues, physical health, mental health, and impact on frontline support workers. The discussion focuses on the implications of the findings for policy and practice vis-à-vis psychological health provision, contamination issues, training and support for frontline support workers, matters relating to restoration, and preparation for flooding.

KW - flood awareness and preparation

KW - flood disaster

KW - flood support workers

KW - physical and psychological health

KW - water health and safety

U2 - 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01182.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01182.x

M3 - Journal article

VL - 34

SP - 1045

EP - 1063

JO - Disasters

JF - Disasters

SN - 1467-7717

IS - 4

ER -