2009MAY061039
The Big Picture
I was catching up quickly on the newspapers this morning waiting for my system to rebuild and stumbled on this article, Bushfire Victims warned to beware of recover hazards by Karen Kissane of The Age Newspaper (2009MAY02). The central idea by Dr Rob Gordon is the psychological trauma that is now impacting on survivors can be reduced by looking at the big picture. At the same time there is not enough access to experts such as Rob to go around.
At the top of each page I keep a tally of days since Black Saturday as a reminder to myself that while time is passing the effects of events that happened on one day, are still rolling on. And will continue to roll on for years to come. To give you a clear example. My Old man was heavily insured, his house intact, cars intact. Living on the hill, this is going to be the best case scenario. Then I read in the paper on Saturday of mobile bathrooms being rolled out at Kinglake, 92 days after the fire because people are still displaced from their homes and to date have received approximately $15K in aid. (upload article).
Finding the big picture
The article outlines a number of pretty crappy scenarios that in all likelihood can be blunted but not avoided. Recover hazards: where long term decision making is impaired by the "adrenalin rush of the trauma"; Hyper arousal of survivors caused by events; Waning post disaster altruism; Hypersensitivity when asked anything.
There are no real answers to these problems. Only time and perspective of the day will help individuals find answers about the bigger picture. For some this will come at a future cost. For me it was instinctive to look for the bigger picture. To get the questions out of the subconscious and concrete. To save them popping back in the future. To put the small questions to rest, trying to understand what happened. Why for instance did Strathewen and www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157616246782440/ burn before my Dads in Kinglake West? (I know the answer to that one - discussed it at Dads over lunch and a map; It didn't KLW burnt before Strathewen and St. Andrews. It happened so fast and the times reported are so sketchy)
The real problem is any person I have spoken to only has the immediate snapshot of the day and how they survived. They have no big picture. The haven't had time to absorb their immediate surroundings let alone the broader picture of other areas, people, places. Some never will. Maybe that's the reason for the grim face on Rob. He's seen this play out before and knows what's in store?
Build the big picture
So reading this news article, I'm still thinking how I can show the big picture via a map. A map with locations, times and possible related images. I know I can sort of do this via flickr, www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/map/ but I'd rather a more open variety where anyone can add their own stuff or at least take the data and build their own.
Any ideas?
next >>>
2009MAY061039
The Big Picture
I was catching up quickly on the newspapers this morning waiting for my system to rebuild and stumbled on this article, Bushfire Victims warned to beware of recover hazards by Karen Kissane of The Age Newspaper (2009MAY02). The central idea by Dr Rob Gordon is the psychological trauma that is now impacting on survivors can be reduced by looking at the big picture. At the same time there is not enough access to experts such as Rob to go around.
At the top of each page I keep a tally of days since Black Saturday as a reminder to myself that while time is passing the effects of events that happened on one day, are still rolling on. And will continue to roll on for years to come. To give you a clear example. My Old man was heavily insured, his house intact, cars intact. Living on the hill, this is going to be the best case scenario. Then I read in the paper on Saturday of mobile bathrooms being rolled out at Kinglake, 92 days after the fire because people are still displaced from their homes and to date have received approximately $15K in aid. (upload article).
Finding the big picture
The article outlines a number of pretty crappy scenarios that in all likelihood can be blunted but not avoided. Recover hazards: where long term decision making is impaired by the "adrenalin rush of the trauma"; Hyper arousal of survivors caused by events; Waning post disaster altruism; Hypersensitivity when asked anything.
There are no real answers to these problems. Only time and perspective of the day will help individuals find answers about the bigger picture. For some this will come at a future cost. For me it was instinctive to look for the bigger picture. To get the questions out of the subconscious and concrete. To save them popping back in the future. To put the small questions to rest, trying to understand what happened. Why for instance did Strathewen and www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157616246782440/ burn before my Dads in Kinglake West? (I know the answer to that one - discussed it at Dads over lunch and a map; It didn't KLW burnt before Strathewen and St. Andrews. It happened so fast and the times reported are so sketchy)
The real problem is any person I have spoken to only has the immediate snapshot of the day and how they survived. They have no big picture. The haven't had time to absorb their immediate surroundings let alone the broader picture of other areas, people, places. Some never will. Maybe that's the reason for the grim face on Rob. He's seen this play out before and knows what's in store?
Build the big picture
So reading this news article, I'm still thinking how I can show the big picture via a map. A map with locations, times and possible related images. I know I can sort of do this via flickr, www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/map/ but I'd rather a more open variety where anyone can add their own stuff or at least take the data and build their own.
Any ideas?
next >>>