Living through and responding to disasters: Multiple roles for Social Work

This is an editorial that i was requested to write for Social Work Education: the international journal right after the 2015 Nepal Earthquake Disasters. Undoubtedly, social work has a long history of responding to the needs of vulnerable populations, including those who experience natural or human-made disasters. Historically, social work has been involved in disaster relief; recovery dominated by psychosocial interventions and other models but has paid less attention to empowerment and social development in post-disaster recovery efforts. Therefore, the role of social work educators, students and practitioners in disasters has become a multifaceted terrain with multiple debates. Practitioners who believe in the social development role for social workers have argued that social workers should be involved in relief work, including using their core skills and knowledge to coordinate the often-chaotic environment of disaster relief, working in and with the community in order to increase access to government and community resources for vulnerable families.
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