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Community Resilience or Unidentified Health Risk?: Health Professional Perceptions on the Impact of the Swissair Flight 111 Disaster on Surrounding Communities

Publication: Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
April 2003

Abstract

On September 2nd, 1998 Swissair Flight 111 crashed in Saint Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia. Surrounding coastal communities were immediately transformed into disaster response sites. Sixteen community health professionals were interviewed that identified several types of individual and community exposure, including exposure to human remains. The interviews revealed that the coastal communities have responded with silence and stoicism. This silence has been viewed by some health professionals as resilience. The interface of a major disaster, community silence, low help-seeking behaviours, and limited disaster health responses raises the critical question whether this is a profile of resilience or a community silently enduring.

Résumé

Le 2 septembre 1998, le vol 111 de Swissair s'écrasait à Saint Margaret's Bay, en Nouvelle-Écosse. Les communautés côtières environnantes ont immédiatement été transformées en sites de secours d'urgence. Des entrevues menées avec 16 professionnels et professionnelles de la santé ont permis d'identifier plusieurs types d'exposition individuelle et communautaire, incluant l'exposition aux restes humains. Les entrevues ont révélé que les membres des communautés concernées ont réagi en se montrant silencieux et stoïques. Certains des professionnelles et professionnels rencontrés considèrent ce silence comme une preuve de résistance. La corrélation entre une catastrophe de grande envergure, le silence de la communauté, le faible niveau de comportements de recherche d'aide et le peu de réactions physiques au désastre soulève la question cruciale de déterminer s'il s'agit d'une démonstration de résistance ou d'une communauté qui souffre en silence.

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cover image Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
Volume 22Number 1April 2003
Pages: 69 - 84

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Version of record online: 12 May 2009

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