Enhancing Students Participation in Disaster Preparedness
Presenter: Sri Hindriyastuti
Diponegoro University
Indonesia
Theme: Science, Engineering & Technology: Solutions for a better future
Abstract
Indonesia lies in a strategic location which consists of 17,583 islands and hence is a guide to Indonesia being a potential place of natural disaster. The Tsunami in Aceh (2004), Wasior flood (2010), Eruption of Merapi (2010), Mentawai Tsunami (2010) are some examples of big natural disasters happened in Indonesia. These disasters remain big traumas, in mental health status of the victims including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) syndrome. Considering these cases, the involvement of health students in disaster preparedness, especially in trauma healing program, is considerably important. The Nursing School of Diponegoro University, Indonesia has tried to develop a new strategy in order to increase the capability of students to be involved in disaster preparedness. The project considered the trauma healing team tried to engage students, increase their awareness of social aspects, in additional also help any other medical workers or the volunteers to help the victim of disasters. The program mainly involved students to give some modest therapy but which was very effective to decrease the level of stress, trauma and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) syndrome. In general, we hope that this method will be applied in other universities outside Indonesia as a form of disaster preparedness, from an education perspective, since natural disaster may happen in every part of the world.
