Dealing with natural disasters: the use of collective coping

Abstract

Natural disasters are currently among the most common sources of trauma. Their impact on the community and its individuals cause a variety of emotional responses, which leads to an urgent need of mobilizing efforts to deal with such events. These efforts are understood as the coping strategies one uses to adapt to a stressful situation. Many models and classifications were proposed to explain this concept, but the majority remains with an individual perception of the process. The Hobfoll`s multi-axial model of coping gives a social perspective for this phenomenon, linking the individual with his(er) context. Through this model, an alternative understanding of the coping process of victims of natural disasters is suggested: the concept of collective coping.