Abstract
A major natural catastrophe such as a tornado, earthquake, hurricane, or flood can leave permanent emotional and spiritual scars on persons involved. Therefore, a disaster poses a long-term challenge to the minister as he helps people deal with a multiplicity of feelings and problems. Unfortunately, most pastors have had little or no experience of ministry in catastrophic events such as these mentioned. Therefore, they are ill-prepared when a disaster occurs and are unaware of the long-range implications of disaster for ministry. The pastor must rely upon the experience and research of others who have weathered such events. This article is an attempt to ellucidate for the minister the long-range effects of natural disaster upon the lives of individuals, to attune him to the subtle psychological, social, and religious dynamics at play such as preoccupation, uprootedness, grief, identity diffusion, victimization, psychic exposure, apathy and disillusionment, and to offer suggestions for effective pastoral care in the light of such factors.
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