Question: Effective crisis intervention requires an awareness and appreciation of the culture(s) in which survivors exist. This is especially true in the broad context of a natural disaster. When a natural disaster impacts a large area, social and cultural infrastructures (such as schools, places of worship, hospitals, and neighborhoods) may be destroyed, making it difficult for survivors to recover and local crisis workers to intervene. In response to natural disasters of such magnitude, crisis workers from nearby regions must familiarize themselves with local and cultural conventions prior to intervening.
For this Assignment, you will analyze cultural considerations related to the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Then, you will evaluate the cultural effectiveness of the response efforts in each.