Lessons learned on the psychosocial response to the tsunami

Over three years have past since the tragic event of the tsunami that followed one of the largest earthquakes in history, outside the coast of Indonesia. The national and international response to the devastation and loss caused by the tsunami was immense, amounting to more financial, material and human resources ever used in response to a single event. Responses focused on not only physical damage and loss, but also on the social and psychological impact this life-changing event had on the lives of millions of people.

The time is now ripe to collect information on the variety of psychosocial responses that have been implemented, and to evaluate what has worked well, what has been challenging and what can be done to improve psychosocial responses in future emergencies. The Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, with support from the American Red Cross Society, has therefore embarked on a project of collecting such information and lessons learnt, to guide future psychosocial responses.

This is a report on a workshop that contributes to the process of this project. The idea for the workshop arose after visits to the five countries worst affected by the tsunami, when it was found that all countries had faced similar challenges but had found different ways of tackling these, and that the different countries would clearly benefit from sharing best practises with one another. The thirty-five (35) participants were therefore all but one, representatives of either Red Cross and Red Crescent societies or from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (from different sectors, including the Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support), and have some affiliation to the psychosocial response to the tsunami.

The three days of the workshop focused on firstly getting an overview of the responses in each country; sharing challenges, best practices and lessons learned; and finally refining recommendations so that they can be considered from various levels of operation within the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. It is evident from the results that challenges across countries were indeed shared, and lively engaging discussions throughout the three days confirmed the importance of such a forum for sharing lessons learned.

The thoughtful and precise recommendations will be taken further than this report, as they will be scrutinised and included in a strategic meeting with partners in September 2008, and in other future advocacy activities to be undertaken by the Reference Centre. The final session of the workshop was consensus and commitment by participants to form a regional network for psychosocial support, which will hopefully be useful in future sharing of lessons learned and provision of technical support as needed.