How do you recover after a climate disaster?

The impact of the flooding on community-health workers in Taquari Valley: a case study of Jaskulski’s practice in Los Alamos

Gisele Dhein, a psychologist at the University of Taquari Valley who is assisting in the implementation of a mental-health response plan for the region, says that these activities foster a sense of empowerment in the community, which is crucial for rebuilding society after a disaster. She says that rebuild family ties and restore community bonds are some of the strategies that will be used.

“In the first couple of weeks, we were concerned about the potential effects on the mental health of our patients during the emergency,” says Simone Hauck, a psychiatrist at UFRGS’s teaching hospital. They planned to use the survey to measure stress, depression, and anxiety in the hospitals where they worked. It became clear to us that the impact would be huge and everyone in the state would be affected.

In the weeks that Jaskulski’s neighbourhood was flooded, she went back a few times to check on her house. She says that the street didn’t look the same. “That really affected me emotionally because it’s my home, I’ve lived there my whole life, and I built it with a lot of sacrifice.”

The clinic in which Jaskulski works to help people navigate the health-care system was spared by the flood waters, but remained closed for more than a month, because it was cut off entirely from its surroundings.

In early August, after the clinic reopened, I met Jaskulski and other community-health workers as they planned their return to work, preparing to provide care and support for community members while dealing with their own losses. “When we come across someone who is suffering, all we can do is cry with them. Because now we are not just health-care professionals, we are also victims,” said Janete Pereira, one of the clinic’s community-health workers.

Nearly all his sessions in May and June focused on the flooding, he says. Those who weren’t directly affected were volunteers and talked about how tiring it was. Many brought up the fear of it happening again.”

How to recover when a disaster occurs: How to self-monitor, and what to do if you have a mental illness

Jardim’s mom had never seen anything like it and had been living at the same address for 58 years. “I cried a lot. I would fall asleep and soon wake up thinking about all the things I had lost,” she says.

Most people going through a disaster will experience symptoms of distress, including anxiety, sadness, hopelessness, difficulty sleeping and fatigue. This is normal and, for most people, the symptoms will go away with time, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Actions that can prevent these from becoming long-term mental-health issues are pointed to by studies.

Ensuring that people have access to basic necessities, such as shelter, water, food and safety is the first thing. “Even more than providing access to psychologists and psychiatrists, what’s important is offering a sense of safety,” says Bruno Paz Mosqueiro, a psychiatrist at UFRGS’s teaching hospital.

The WHO also recommends allowing communities to help themselves by creating groups that work collaboratively to solve problems. The more people feel supported, the less likely they are to suffer from Post-traumatic stress disorder, Mosqueiro says. psychological first aid is one of the WHO recommendations and can be preformed by community members with basic training. Listening to the individual, and helping them to address immediate needs is what it involves.

People began to think of themselves as traumatised victims, which can cause them to lose their sense of community. When the community comes together and demands their rights, that’s also a form of mental-health action. But if you individualize suffering with a diagnosis, you assume that it’s now every person for themselves, and that’s a mistake.”

And that is why those who provide care should avoid referring to ‘symptoms’ and instead talk about ‘expected reactions’ when discussing difficulty sleeping, anxiety and other common outcomes of a traumatic event, says Noal. “We guide people to self-monitor and only seek help if the issues persist. They need to utilize their own coping strategies; otherwise, they risk becoming dependent on health-care professionals.”

The use of benzodiazepines, which are used to treat anxiety, is not recommended in the first few hours after a trauma. They are known to impair the consolidation of traumatic memories and increase the risk of PTSD.

Source: How to recover when a climate disaster destroys your city

Eliana Silva de Arajo’s Loss of her Home in Rio Grande do Sul during the Rio Grande Do Sul Flood

Eliana Silva de Araújo had already lost her home when the May floods hit Rio Grande do Sul. Her house in the Taquari Valley region in the central part of the state was destroyed by a large flood that struck the area in September 2023. Then, in May, the school where she, her daughter and granddaughter were taking refuge was inundated, forcing them and hundreds of people who had already been displaced to relocate to a new shelter.

In Porto Alegre, many people who were displaced due to the flooding have been allowed to return to their homes, while some neighbourhoods are no longer safe to live in. Shelters in that area are so crowded that there isn’t enough space for people who have been displaced.

Violence and drug misuse is a problem that affects the shelters, therefore contributing to the mental-health toll of the disaster. Adding to that, Araújo says that her neighbours discriminate against her because she is from Bahia, a lower-income state in the northeast of Brazil.

The people are the most important thing for her, she says. “I felt really bad after the last flood because of the prejudice; I was really struggling.”

She says that at one point she had to receive some psychological care, but that she feels better now and she has peace with the fact that she may not have her own place again.

One of the neighbourhoods that was destroyed by the flooding is Passo de Estrela, which has a psychologist in it. In a group therapy session with women from the community, he asked them to write down all their memories of the lost neighbourhood in a notebook.

They said that the church where she got married and later started tobaptize her kids no longer exists. And even the photographs of these events were lost, so she is losing that memory,” he says, his voice choked with emotion.

Source: How to recover when a climate disaster destroys your city

The Guaba River basin of Porto de Estrela, Brazil, during the biggest rainfall ever recorded in Brazil, says Jardim and Jurema

In a workshop organized by Ferreira a few months ago, the participants were asked to share what they would like to happen to Passo de Estrela, knowing that they will not be able to live there again. They wanted it to be a place where they could go to take walks, see their friends and drink a regional tea.

After the flood waters had disappeared, social support was important to Jardim and his mother. When he reached out for help, 18 friends arrived one Saturday morning to form a clean-up task force. The house was ready for them to come back. I noticed the vibrant foliage in their planters after I left their home. When I asked if these plants were okay, Jurema shook her head.

“This was the biggest rainfall ever recorded in Brazil,” says Sofia Royer Moraes, an environmental engineer and hydrologist at the University of Taquari Valley in Lajeado.

Heavy rains poured from late April to May in the Guaba River basin, which supplies Porto Alegre with water and several of its tributaries. In some areas of the state, nearly one metre of rain fell during a two-week span (see ‘Rainfall totals’).

Source: How to recover when a climate disaster destroys your city

What does Nature want to do in the lead up to the US election? A study of the Kapczinski floods in the South of Brazil

The organizers of the event evacuated participants who didn’t live in the town, to the nearest functioning airport so that they could make their way home before the situation got worse. “It was a real scramble,” Kapczinski recalls.

The floods that hit the southernmost state in Brazil in April and May affected more than 2 million people. The disaster was caused by a combination of terrible weather and infrastructure failures and caused the displacement of more than 600,000 people and the deaths of over 180 people.

The flood lingered for weeks, leaving a series of brown lines on the walls that marked the different water levels. It would take more than a month for her to return to a house that was filled with mud. The furniture was destroyed and the only things spared were the items on her bed.

In the wake of devastating floods in the South of Brazil, researchers are working out how best to help people — plus, what concerns do Nature ’s readers have about the US election.

Nature has conducted a poll of its readers to get a sense of what is on researchers’ minds in the run up to the US election. The survey respondents identified themselves as researchers and supported vice-president Harris. Many also voiced concerns about a possible victory for former President Trump, saying that they would consider changing where they would live if he wins. Reporter Jeff Tollefson tells us more about the results and what the election means for US science.

The Nature Podcast on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, RSS, and iHeadcast Radio (Its in the Nature Podcast Archive)

Don’t forget to watch an episode. You can subscribe to the Nature podcast on Apple Podcasts, and then listen to it on your favourite app. An RSS feed for the Nature Podcast

 is available too.