Late Reminders Nine Years Post Disaster in Adults Who As Children or Adolescents Were Exposed to the 2004 Southeast Asian Tsunami

Abstract

Objective: The main aim of this study was to determine if young adults, who as children and adolescents were heavily exposed to the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, had late reminders of this disaster nine years post disaster and, if so, how they handled these late reminders. Method: The subjects who had been exposed when they were between 10 and 15 years old were interviewed nine years post disaster when they had reached adulthood. Results: All those interviewed stated that they had experienced different late reminders of the 2004 tsunami even nine years later. They said that they could plan in advance or deal with late reminders should they occur. Two types of reminders were identified, one type designated as external and the other as internal. The interview subjects described how they had handled these reminders by striving for balance by thinking, talking, letting feelings out, doing something else or by avoiding. Conclusions: These young adults strived to find a balance between their function as adults in society and continued effects from the 2004 tsunami. A person, even if not affected functionally, can be affected in different ways in adulthood by the natural disaster they had experienced during childhood or adolescence. This is something important for anyone to think about when he or she meets persons who have been heavily exposed to a natural disaster many years earlier.