Disaster Recovery and Human Services

This assignment examines the crucial role of human services in disaster recovery. It emphasizes the importance of pre-disaster planning, effective response strategies during emergencies, and ongoing support to help affected individuals and communities rebuild their lives. The text highlights the need for coordinated efforts between various stakeholders, including government agencies, non-profit organizations, and mental health professionals, to ensure a comprehensive and compassionate approach to disaster recovery.

Running head: ESSAY
Human Service Delivery
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1ESSAY
Introduction
The rural communities have always been the subject to change and face the natural
disaster for decades. The disasters might occur in both rural and urban communities.
However, the impact of the disaster on the rural communities is considerable greater than the
rural communities due to several reasons. The number of disasters faced by the rural
communities is also greater than the urban ones. Besides, the frequencies and intensity have
been exacerbated in the recent times due to global warming and the communities are now
facing more number with longer periods of bushfire, flood and draught. The prediction of
these disasters is more complicated than every due to the uncertainty of the climate change.
Modern developing technology is constantly failing in predicting the sudden change in the
climate. This make the recovery policy necessary to rapidly cope up and overcome the impact
of the disasters. The government and non-government team of social workers had always
been into action for the post disaster recovery. However, the competency of these practices
has always been in the subject of questioning. The constantly changing policies taken by the
government fails to address the issue from a complete perspective. It is because of the
limitations of the serviced implement in the post disaster recovery and somewhat for the rural
people. The rural men tends to hold back to their assets in order to protect them, mean while,
the female tends to flee from the area with the children. This gap tends to have more impact
on the community in the decision-making and the people seems to get trap in the middle of
the escape due to their late decision-making. The human services provided to these affected
population seems to have a number of strengths and weaknesses. Those have been identified
in this discussion along with the challenges faced by the social worker in the real world
situation.
Background of the Issues

2ESSAY
Australia has been facing major bushfire incidents for more than a decade now. A
number of major bushfires have devastating effect the Australian population over years. The
hot and dry climatic condition of the continent had been causing these natural disasters and
causing massive damage to the population every year. The prone areas attacked by this
particular disaster are Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and the adjacent areas and
every year it burns thousands of hectors of forest and residential lands. The major incident of
2009 in Victoria that got international attention is named ‘Black Saturday’ as it took lives of
nearly 173 Victorians (Alston, 2009). Another major incident of NSW and Queensland took
place in 2013 springtime that burnt thousand of hectors of forest grounds (Rfs.nsw.gov.au,
2017). It was a result of several dispersed fire in the forest of NSW and Queensland. It has
been a major issue faced by the Australian government for a number of decades and the
government has declared the areas as fire prone area that holds different policy than the rest
of the country regarding bushfire matters. The government has initiated several ways to
control these uncontrollable firs through water bombing from aircrafts and ground fire
departments. However, the loss of the population is always greater before the fire is
controlled. Support is required for the directly affected population due to their loss of
properties, assets, neighbourhood, friends and families. These disasters has both the physical
and mental impact on the individuals who evidenced this naked cruelty of the nature. Hence,
they require support in the process of recovery. The government and the private organizations
of the social works are actively providing them the human support in several ways. Red Cross
and its followers are the front line in this campaign of human support. However, the support
models both physical and virtual have some strength and weakness in providing the human
support services to the affected populations. They have to face several challenges in the
process on various grounds. Both the models implemented have a number of limitations and
the situation like this requires particular set of models from both the types of service models

3ESSAY
in properly addressing the issue in hand. Some of the suited models proposed for the
implementation (the Guardian., 2017).
Services Suited
Several human services is useful in the process of post disaster recovery. Both face-
to-face service virtual service models can propose potential services to the communities
affected. They can be like the following from each.
Face-to-face Services – Counselling, community development, injury recovery, relocation,
food supply.
Virtual Services – Counselling, meeting, education for disaster recovery and future
preparation, compensations.
Human Service
Pidgeon, Ford and Klaassen (2014) identified Human Service as a broad field with a
single objective of meeting the human needs with interdisciplinary knowledge base. The
focus of the human service is to prevent and remediate the problems of the communities and
maintain commitment to improve the overall living standard of the community people.
Human service professionals also deal with the disaster management and provide services for
recovery of the affected communities. Broadly, the service are of two types that are face-to-
face service models and virtual service models of human service. Both the types has several
expertise and the necessary ones are implemented in according to the situation. These models
have some strengths and weaknesses that are discussed below.
Face-to-face service delivery
Face-to-face service is the physical service carried out by the service team and
provided to the needed community. Monette, Sullivan and DeJong (2013) expressed that the

4ESSAY
service team can compose with workers with different expertise who physically visits the
communities and provides the necessary supported identified. These expertises can
considerably vary and include a wide range of expertise ranging from social science
personnel to medical, emergency, psychologists and many more. In case of the disasters, both
the emergency experts and post disaster teams come into action for the recovery of the
community. Nicholls (2012) clarifies the need of both emergency and post disaster service
deliverance for recovering form the situation.
The emergency fire team comes into action for controlling and stopping the fire to
prevent it causing more damage to the community. The NSW Rural Fire Service team formed
by the Australian government to prevent the bushfire and reduce its intensity. The employees
working in the team hold skills from their specially training to prevent the particular types of
forest fires in immediate priority (Nicholls, 2012). The special water bombers are also trained
by the government to fight the fire from above and pour gallons of water from the sky to
reduce the heat. The post disaster team needs to resettle the community and look after their
well-being and recovery from the impact. Many of the community members might be
physically injured that needs attention of the medical service providers. They also ensure the
other medical conditions of the community members from the exposure they received from
the extreme heat and the polluted air. The rescue team comes to recover the trapped
individuals from the danger. This service team also needs to resettle the community for the
period of recovery. The food and water is supplied to the community by the team.
Psychologists play vital role in addressing the mental trauma and shock received from the
exposure to the disasters (Nicholls, 2012). The community members have lost their
properties, assets, loved ones, neighbours and other fellow community members that requires
attention of the psychologist in the process of recovery (Gleser, Green & Winget, 2013).
Wade et al., (2014) concludes the counselling as an essential part of disaster recovery. The

5ESSAY
economic support to rebuild their houses and ensure their livelihood also needs attention
where the government and the NGOs like Red Cross plays vital role.
Strength
There are particular strengths in the face-to-face service delivery and any other type
cannot replace that.
 Other types of service model cannot replace medical assistance. It helps in recovering
physical injuries of the insureds (Springer & Casey-Lockyer, 2014).
 Face-to-face counselling has greater impact on the affected and ensures a faster
recovery from the trauma.
 The food and water supplied by the rescue has no alternative but to, physically deliver
the products to the customer. This also provide mental assurance to the affected
community and builds confidence in them.
 This type of service have greater impact as it evidences the actual needs of the people
and provide the particulars.
 Helps the workers understand the exact requirements
Weaknesses
Some of the major weaknesses of face-to-face service deliverance identified by Sheu
(2014) are as follows:
 The cost of physical service deliverance is high.
 The delivery team needs to train the members and develop their skills accordingly to
receive desired result.
 Language can be a barrier in service deliverance where the community members may
not understand and properly communicate with the service providers

6ESSAY
 The teams need to recruit a large amount of individuals and retain them for providing
this kind of emergency services. The distance is also a concern where the service
providers have to travel a long distance to help the people affected by the disasters.
 Health and safety of the service providers also falls into danger while providing
service in the disaster affected areas.
 The balance in life of the service providers also get disrupted during the service as
they might not be able to go home for days or even weeks.
 Cultural gap between the service provider and taker might reduce the efficiency of the
service delivered.
Virtual models of service delivery
Virtual models of service delivery has multiple level of advantages for both the
service provider and receiver. It can be meeting, counselling, information flow or many other.
A study conducted by Mitomo et al., in 2013 after the Japanese earthquake highlights that the
ICT and mass media can play significant role in post disaster recovery of the people. People
can rely on the information circulated by these over the internet, keep them self up to date
about the ongoing situation of their areas, and get assurance of the well-being of their friends
and loved ones. Sung’s (2011) work reflects similar outcome using the mobile phone
technology app. The smartphones are now a daily life commodity and almost everyone uses
one. These new apps can not only update the affected people about the situation, but also has
the capability to take the necessary actions required to keep their family safe during and after
a catastrophic disaster takes place. The use of virtual model has much broader application on
disaster recovery than just being a medium of information flow. Psychologists took the
advantage of the new technology to reach out the affected population via internet. The new
generation psychotherapy is now being conducted over video call like skype or similar
applications. Fishkin et al. (2011) paper ‘Psychodynamic Treatment, Training, and

7ESSAY
Supervision Using Internet-Based Technology’ proves the usefulness of newly emerging
technology and the ways it can successfully address the issues faced by the disaster-affected
people. Another study carried out by Kaplan et al. on 2011 reflects the statements of the
psychologists regarding the use of technology in their practice. According to their statement,
it makes it much easier for them and the patients to establish intense interaction in the
beginning sessions as the patients produce less anxiety with self-disclosure over internet. It
helps the counsellor to handle the sensitive clients in a more efficient way as the technology
helps in minimising the shyness and increase the emotional safety of the patients. Alston
(2009) sees these as opportunities in the human service in the post disaster recovery phase.
Virtual model of human service can help them in above-mentioned ways. The strengths and
weaknesses of the virtual human service are listed below:
Strengths
 Cost effective
 The service provider does not have to travel to the destination for providing their
valuable service
 Flow of information is greater
 Potentially aware the community of the procedure and step required to overcome
 Inform their loved one about their well-being
Weaknesses
 Remote areas might have problem in receiving internet signal
 A gap remains between the counsellor and the patient that might lead the treatment
process in a misdirection
 The authenticity of the service is of question via visual service model.

8ESSAY
 The service provider might fail in understanding the intensity of the condition of the
affected via internet
 Only limited variety of services is possible to provide via virtual service model.
Combined benefits
Both the approaches has limitation and strengths and a combination of both can has
potential to increase the efficiency of the service being provide to the affected population. A
proper planning of both types of services can potentially reduce the cost and other limitation
in the process.
Challenges
Several challenges occurs during the procedure of service providence for the human
service worker as discussed earlier. The ethnic gap between the service provider and receiver
makes it harder for the service provider to take necessary actions required in the situation for
both face-to-face and virtual models. This is the greatest challenges that occurs several time
in the post disaster recovery and the affected community rejects the offerings made by the
service provider, as they find no comfort in their consolation. Language is another barrier that
the service providers might face and it creates a greater gap between the two parties.
Development of particular skills can only mitigate the problem in hand. Particular
human service provider should operate in particular area and learn additional skills to operate
efficiently. The practitioner should learn the local language where the service is being
provide. It is essential for them to make a flawless communication with the affected
population so that the affected can reflect their grief that will help the service provider better
understand the situation. Moreover, the service provider needs to understand the cultural
diversity and have a thorough knowledge of the community culture. It will help them to get

9ESSAY
into the community and mix with them so that the people feel their belongingness. It can
definitely show greater result in service delivery.
Conclusion
Some of the strengths and weaknesses identified for both the cases reflects the
limitations of the service. The virtual service reflects its strength in cost efficiency whereas;
the face-to-face model has its strength in addressing the issues like food and water supply to
the affected community that the other type fails. Hence, it is possible to conclude from the
above discussion that both the model has its efficiency in particular field and implementation
of both the model in its particular efficiency can successfully increase the efficiency of the
service being provide to the community. However, some challenges will remain that needs
attention to increase the efficiency to its optimum level. The cultural and language gap
between the service provider and receiver stands as a barrier in both the models that needs
attention. A proper planning of implementation to address the post disaster recovery can
speed up the process and help the affected get back to their natural lives sooner.

10ESSAY
References
Alston, M. (2009). Innovative human services practice: Australia's changing landscape.
Macmillan Education AU.
Fishkin, R., Fishkin, L., Leli, U., Katz, B., & Snyder, E. (2011). Psychodynamic
treatment, training, and supervision using internet-based technologies. Journal of
the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, 39(1), 155-
168.
Gleser, G. C., Green, B. L., & Winget, C. (2013). Prolonged psychosocial effects of
disaster: A study of Buffalo Creek. Elsevier.
Kaplan, D. M., Wade, M. E., Conteh, J. A., & Martz, E. T. (2011). Legal and ethical
issues surrounding the use of social media in counseling. Counseling and Human
Development, 43(8), 1.
Mitomo, H., Otsuka, T., Jeon, S. Y., & Cheng, J. W. (2013). The role of ICT and mass
media in post-disaster restoration and recovery progress: A case of the Great East
Japan Earthquake.
Monette, D. R., Sullivan, T. J., & DeJong, C. R. (2013). Applied social research: A tool
for the human services. Cengage Learning.
Nicholls, S. (2012). The resilient community and communication practice. Australian
Journal of Emergency Management, The, 27(1), 46.
Pidgeon, A. M., Ford, L., & Klaassen, F. (2014). Evaluating the effectiveness of
enhancing resilience in human service professionals using a retreat-based
Mindfulness with Metta Training Program: a randomised control
trial. Psychology, health & medicine, 19(3), 355-364.

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Rfs.nsw.gov.au. (2017). Major Fire Updates - NSW Rural Fire Service Retrieved 13
October 2017, from https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/major-fire-
updates
Sheu, J. B. (2014). Post-disaster relief–service centralized logistics distribution with
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Sung, S. J. (2011). How can we use mobile apps for disaster communications in Taiwan:
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the Guardian. (2017). Bushfires hit NSW and Queensland as spring heat threatens record
Retrieved 13 October 2017, from
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/sep/27/bushfires-hit-nsw-and-
queensland-as-spring-heat-threatens-record
Wade, D., Crompton, D., Howard, A., Stevens, N., Metcalf, O., Brymer, M., ... & Forbes,
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