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Psychological Distress Following Urban Earthquakes in California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Linda B. Bourque ,
Judith M. Siegel  and
Kimberley I. Shoaf
Linda B. Bourque*
Affiliation:
Professor of Community Health Sciences and Associate Director, Center for Public Health and Disaster Relief, School of Public Health, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
Judith M. Siegel
Affiliation:
Professor of Community Health Sciences and Associate Dean, School of Public Health, School of Public Health, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
Kimberley I. Shoaf
Affiliation:
Adjunct Assistant Professor and Director of Research, Center for Public Health and Disaster Relief, School of Public Health, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
*
PhD Box 951772, School of Public Health, Center for the Health Sciences, Los Angeles, California 90095–1772 USA E-mail: lbourque@ucla.edu
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Abstract

During and following a disaster caused by a natural event, human populations are thought to be at greater risk of psychological morbidity and mortality directly attributable to increased, disaster-induced stress. Drawing both on the research of others and that conducted at the Center for Public Health and Disaster Relief of the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) following California earthquakes, this paper examines the extent to which research evidence supports these assumptions. Following a brief history of disaster research in the United States, the response of persons at the time of an earthquake was examined with particular attention to psychological morbidity; the number of deaths that can be attributed to cardiovascular events and suicides; and the extent to which and by whom, health services are used following an earthquake. The implications of research findings for practitioners in the field are discussed.

Keywords

earthquakeheart diseaseNorthridgepost-traumatic stress disorderpsychological morbidityresearchresponseservice utilizationsuicide
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , June 2002 , pp. 81 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2002

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