Citation

van Straten A, Ncube A. Jamba 2023; 15(1): e1435.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, African Centre for Disaster Studies, North-West University)

DOI

10.4102/jamba.v15i1.1435

PMID

38223545

PMCID

PMC10784178

Abstract

The spiritual and mental health of flood disaster survivors has become a prominent topic among researchers as the impacts reach beyond that of economics. The research focused on the 2022 flood disaster that occurred in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The disaster was declared a provincial and later a national disaster. The floods resulted in high fatalities, damage to property and internal displacements as they spread to neighbouring provinces in the country. Adopting a qualitative methodology, the case study used a semi-structured questionnaire to interview 50 households who were affected by the disaster. The data were cleaned, coded and descriptively analysed by drawing upon the main themes identified. The study revealed that the floods affected the spiritual and mental health of the survivors as a result of a lack of trust in appointed governmental authorities, feelings of isolation, hopelessness and grief. It became evident from the study that municipalities, with a particular focus on the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, need to acknowledge need for spiritual and mental health interventions within the affected communities during and after the disasters. The research contributes to the understanding of human distress and coping mechanisms in the aftermath of flood disasters, by placing the focus on the spiritual and mental health of the survivors.

Language: en