Disaster Management: Strengths and Community Perspectives

Ngoh Tiong Tan
Professor of Social Work
Augsburg College, USA

 Abstract

Most approaches to disaster management focus on rescue and physical rehabilitation. The key to effective recovery from disaster must necessarily include the social-emotional support which links the physical safety and survival needs to social-emotional coping and communal ties that provide the meaning for one's existence. The vital connections with significant others and the community, the relational aspects of life, are crucial to total recovery. It is the cultural and contextual aspects of community grieving and recovery that facilitate the rebuilding of lives together. The community development perspective provides the framework for social recovery in disaster management.

This article is based on a keynote speaker address entitled, "Disaster Management from a Strengths and Community Perspective" for the 3rd Annual International Lecture Series at Dominican University, Graduate School of Social Work, River Forest, Illinois, November 20, 2008.

 About the Author

Dr Ngoh Tiong Tan is Professor of Social Work at Augsburg College, Minnesota. He has formerly taught at the National University of Singapore and the College of St Thomas. Professor Tan is Co-chair of Commonwealth Organization for Social Work and former Vice President of International Federation of Social Workers.