Page 90 - IJPS-6-1

Resilience and mental health impacts of natural disasters in India

climate – can trigger post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder (MDD), anxiety, depression,
complicated grief, survivor guilt, vicarious trauma, recovery fatigue, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation. Incremental
climate change, such as rising temperatures, rising sea levels, and episodic drought, can change natural landscapes,
disrupt food and water resources, change agricultural conditions, change land use and habitation, weaken infrastructure,
and give rise to financial and relationship stress, increase risks of violence and aggression, and result in displacement of
entire communities (Hayes, Blashki, Wiseman, et al., 2018; Solanki, 2016; Wind and Komproe, 2018).
Berry et al. (2010) described the putative direct and indirect relationships among factors which have both direct
and indirect effects on mental health, as illustrated in Figure 1. This figure serves as a guide to bridge disciplines and to
comprehend key concepts related to inter-linkages between climate change, natural disasters, and mental health of affected
populations. The link between extreme anxiety reactions (such as PTSD) and acute weather disasters, such as floods (the
most common disasters at the global level), forest fires, heat waves, and cyclones, can be direct and indirect. Climate
change/natural disasters may affect mental health directly by exposing people to the psychological trauma associated
with higher frequency, intensity, and duration of climate-related disasters, including extreme heat exposure, and also by
destroying landscapes, which diminishes the sense of belonging and solace that people derive from their connectedness to
the land. In addition, indirect effects to mental health may occur via two pathways. Climate change-induced disasters may
affect (1) physical health, through increased heat stress, injury, disease, and disruption to food supply and (2) community
well-being, through damage to the economic and, consequently, the social fabric of communities (Kjellstrom, Holmer,
and Lemke, 2009; Berry, Bowen, and Kjellstrom, 2010).
3. Key Findings

3.1. Heat Waves and Mental Health
Heat waves pose a serious policy challenge as temperatures soar and heat wave mortality rates mount with every passing
year. The year 2016 has been the warmest in the world till date – it was 1.1°C higher than pre-industrial levels (WMO,
2019). India has high exposure to heat waves, and with inadequate adaptive ability, the effect of heightened heat waves
might turn acute. In terms of the number of deaths due to natural disasters in 2015, heat waves caused the third-highest
number of deaths in India at 2248 (Murari, Daly, Patwardhan, et al., 2015). Heat waves not only account for mounting
mortality rates but also have multiple life-altering impacts on populations and severely affect their employment, food
availability, and basic life sources. Occupational health risks are likely to increase with a rise in heat exposure and thus

Local cultural, economic, social, developmental, and environmental context
Climate Change-related Disasters
(Specific acute, Sub-acute and Chronic events)
Damage to landscape and Direct (smoke, Trauma,
agriculture, Food Security burns, heat) Solastalgia
Indirect (food
supply)

COMMUNITIES PHYSICAL
Economic, HEALTH
social demographic
impacts

Loss of livelihoods, Causal,
poverty, isolation, reciprocal
alienation, grief, relationship MENTAL HEALTH
bereavement, Acute/chronic
displacement High/low prevalence

Figure 1. Natural disasters and pathways to mental health. Source: Referred from Berry et al. (2010).

84 International Journal of Population Studies | 2020, Volume 6, Issue 1