All disasters, whether caused by earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, explosions, terrorist attacks, volcanoes, tidal waves, airplane or automobile accidents, train wrecks, murder, etc. have one thing in common: Disastershock. Disastershock is the emotional stress that adults and children experience following a disaster.

Those who are killed in a disaster, and their families, are obviously victims of a disaster. Yet the suffering of those who are indirectly affected by a disaster can also be enormous. Disastershock can continue to affect more vulnerable adults and children for up to years following the disaster. This book is intended to help you to reduce disaster-related stress in yourself and in your family members. It is a first-aid manual in disaster stress reduction.

Most disasters occur with an unexpected savage force. Disasters remind us of how pitifully helpless human beings can be. Disasters may occur on the national level (as for example, the day Space Shuttle Challenger blew up and produced disastershock across the country, or the recent national disastershock produced by the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon), on a state or city level (for example, when airplane crashes or an earthquake affects a specific geographic area), on a community level (for example, when a neighbor is murdered) or on a personal level (when a family member or friend dies). Whether the disaster is national or personal, those affected experience some disastershock. The worse the disaster, the more people are affected by disastershock.