MANAGING DISASTER ANNIVERSARIES

Most adults remember vividly where we were when John F. Kennedy was shot. Children may have seen adults weep for the first time, or felt sickened by the television coverage or were confused as they sorted out how this would affect everyone and everything. A person did not need to be in Texas to feel the ripples of that day. Decades later, people still discuss where they were when JFK was shot.

For many adults and children, the tragedies of September 11, 2001 were their first connection to a historical event. People everywhere saw the television footage over and over. They saw the reactions of others. Emotions ran high and to the extreme. People wondered and waited to see what horror would be next. Psychological and Emotional Terrorism one planned goal of the terrorists spread as everyone wondered where the next target would be.

People closest to the terrorist actions suffered the most directly. A recent study found eleven percent of New York City children now suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and fifteen percent suffer agoraphobia, a fear of public places, because of the attack. Even if you were not in New York City, Washington, D.C. or Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, you were exposed to a trauma. Children and adults everywhere continue to have difficulties dealing with their emotional experiences. Anxiety symptoms and sleep difficulties are on the rise since September 11 (Mitchell, 2002).

When someone approaches the one-year anniversary of a disaster, noted trauma experts know that this is a difficult day for many adults and children. Tremendous media coverage can be expected in some cases. In other cases, the individual suffers in solitude over an extreme personal incident. Memory images replay again and again, and thoughts and feelings resurface. Some children regress behaviorally and academically around the anniversary of a trauma. Some adults do, also. Fears, worries, or nightmares may come back. Some adults and children will do well; others may have surprisingly strong reactions. David Mitchell, who created a series of writing journals for disaster anniversary management, writes , "As a Disaster Manager and counselor I have seen how ignoring or mishandling anniversaries can create more emotions than the original event. The National Institute of Mental Health and the University of Illinois Extension Disaster Resources agree when they say that children and adolescents, if given support, will recover almost completely from the fear and anxiety caused by a traumatic experience within a few weeks. However, some children and adolescents will need more help perhaps over a longer period of time in order to heal. Grief may take months to resolve, and may be reawakened by reminders such as media reports or the anniversary of the death. And some of the effects of long- term disruptions may not surface immediately; problems may not surface until weeks, months, or even a year following the disaster" (Mitchell, 2002).

Managers need to be actively involved in open acknowledgment of anniversary events and emotions. They can lead the team or create a team that will provide support, validation, space, and memorial events for everyone. If someone has had a personal loss or trauma on your team, ask how he or she wants to spend that day. If the team has had an incident, help them organize an appropriate tribute. It can be formal and elaborate, or it can be one minute of silence. That is up to you and your company needs. However, ignoring the moment can create an emotional backlash of anger and pain that combines with old memories and feelings of the original event that can become distorted into a full blown emotional spin. Certainly, the compassionate thing is to take the time to honor the moment. The fiscally responsible thing is to invest some down time for people's emotions that will allow employees to emotionally regroup and return to productivity.