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The flood is gone, the suffering remains: Flood victims need emotional support

After the flood, many are faced with the ruins of their livelihoods; some have lost loved ones. Now support is needed. It is not just about money and hands that lend a hand, but also about coping with emotional pain.

Whether a flood, a terrorist attack, an earthquake or a bus accident – for anyone who loses a loved one or their own health in such a terrible event, a world collapses first. Experts know: If government agencies fail at such a moment, if they do not clearly answer the many questions of relatives and torment the bereaved in their misery with bureaucratic dullness, this can make it difficult to deal with the terrible experiences in the long term.

“Psychosocial emergency care” is what has to be done there, in technical jargon. In the disaster area in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, people who are trained to take care of such extreme emotional situations are now urgently needed. That is why the coordination office for aftercare, victim and family support (NOAH) of the federal government got involved.

The NOAH team, based at the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Aid (BBK) in Bonn, is actually only deployed according to the statutory mandate when Germans abroad are affected by a bus accident, a plane crash, a terrorist attack or a natural disaster. It also looks after the relatives of people kidnapped abroad.

Rapid emergency help

Since last Thursday, however, the site has also been used to deal with the flood situation. She supports Rhineland-Palatinate in setting up so-called “acute care structures” in the disaster area and arranges emergency pastors for the identification commission of the Federal Criminal Police Office. This commission specializes in the identification of the dead in disasters with a high number of victims. This leads to many difficult situations, for example when relatives are supposed to help identify victims beyond any doubt. Or when the moment of sad certainty has come.

“It is very important that qualified psychosocial help is available in the first few hours after an attack or a disaster. So that those affected can cope better with the stress,” says Jutta Helmerichs, head of the NOAH coordination office, from years of experience: “Failures at the beginning can have long-term negative consequences. ” It is very important: “It is not possible to send people back and forth.” Therefore, it must be clear beforehand who will take care of such a case so that there is only one position, ideally only one contact person.

Helmerichs stated: “The needs of those affected are similar and are relatively independent of the type of damaging event.” You need to be certain of what has happened as quickly as possible, support in dealing with the authorities, and sometimes also the mediation of psychotherapeutic help at your place of residence. The exchange with other affected persons is also important for many of them. Everyone in Helmerichs’ team is trained to deal with emotions such as anger, sadness or even aggression. Emergencies that affect children are always particularly difficult and stressful for employees, who are in contact with those affected, especially by phone and email.

Central contact points

In recent years, new offers of help have been created in many places in Germany for people affected by disasters or terrorist attacks. This is also the result of the harsh criticism of the way in which the injured and bereaved were dealt with in the first phase after the attack on Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz in December 2016. We remember: A rejected asylum seeker from Tunisia shot a Polish truck driver and then raced through a Christmas market, where eleven other people died.

After this worst Islamist attack in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, all states except Brandenburg and Saarland appointed victim commissioners or created central contact points. At the federal level, a corresponding position was created at the Ministry of Justice and filled with the SPD politician Edgar Franke. “We want to change and raise awareness and not just criticize; after all, many attacks have already been foiled and material, personnel and financial resources have been increased by all the authorities,” says Astrid Passin. She is the spokeswoman for the bereaved and those affected by the attack on Breitscheidplatz.

Victims of acts of violence can – regardless of the background of the act – receive benefits under the Victims Compensation Act. Anyone who is affected by the act of a terrorist is also entitled to so-called hardship payments. For example, children who have lost their father or mother in an attack receive 30,000 euros. A lump sum to mitigate the loss of maintenance can also be paid. The federal and state governments have now promised fast, unbureaucratic help to the flood victims in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia.

Floods in Germany_Pictures of the disaster

A total of around 3.66 million euros have been paid out to 157 people affected by the attack on the Christmas market. 76 victims of the attack in Halle received around 493,000 euros. According to the Federal Ministry of Justice, the 62 victims of the racist attack in Hanau have received around 1.29 million euros in hardship payments so far.

Some members of the investigative committee of the Bundestag, which highlighted official errors relating to the terrorist attack on Breitscheidplatz, would find it good if NOAH were to be available as a point of contact in Germany in future. In any case, the coordination office is currently working on so-called model framework plans with checklists for the best possible victim support in Germany.

The biggest challenge in terms of scope that Jutta Helmerichs’ team had to overcome so far was the tsunami in the Indian Ocean in December 2004 because there were so many people affected at the time. Within a short time, 100 external forces for emergency pastoral care and crisis intervention were organized. The “acute phase” lasted three months.

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