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Abstract
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Background Two terror attacks in Turkey, affected the local Jewish community. This paper attempts to deal with the resilience of the Istanbul Community in the face of terror, by way of two indicators which have been characterised as avoidance behaviour and public fear reflected in the responses to a questionnaire and analysed against the circles of vulnerability.
Methods 74 questions centering on exposure to the two terror events defined the circle of vulnerability", in 210 members of the Jewish Community in Istanbul. Optimism, present fear and anxiety, relationship to the community, sense of security, religiosity and current behavioural patterns associated with the every day patterns of life in the community and its surroundings were recorded.
Results People in the inner circle in the circles of vulnerability, have retained the affects of those attacks and are reflected in behavioural choices. The findings show that 1986's events still affect resilience, and given that the entire community was exposed to the events of 2003, hint that a previous event does not inoculate the individual or a community to deal with additional trauma in the future.. Profession increased the amount of avoidance behaviour in addition to the influence of the circle of vulnerability.
Conclusion The influence of terror does not dissipate over time and thus the necessity exists to create awareness in communities of the issue of resilience, and to prepare appropriately action and responses to the issues of resilience of a community as a whole and the individuals who are a part of that community. |