Out of the wave: the meaning of suffering and relieved suffering for survivors of the tsunami catastrophe. An hermeneutic-phenomenological study of TV-interviews one year after the tsunami catastrophe, 2004

Abstract

The tsunami catastrophe, 26th December 2004, is one of a number of catastrophes that has stricken mankind. Climate reports forecast that natural disasters will increase in number in the future. Research on human suffering after a major catastrophe, using a caring science perspective, is scarce. The aim of the study was to explore the meaning of suffering and relieved suffering of survivors of the tsunami catastrophe, 26th December 2004. An explorative study design, inspired by the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur's hermeneutic-phenomenology, was used. Interviews made by the Swedish Television (SVT) in connection with the 1 year anniversary were carried out on site in the disaster area and in Sweden. The text analysis revealed four main themes: 'An incomprehensible event', 'A heavy burden', 'Help that helps', and to 'Being changed in a changed life situation'. The findings were mainly interpreted in light of Paul Ricoeur's thinking on suffering, quilt, forgiveness, time and narrative. The first year after the loss of loved ones in the tsunami catastrophe, 2004, was like starting an inner as well as an outer journey. This journey was experienced as living with the heavy burden of an incomprehensible event. Help that helped was mediated by consolers who endured the suffering of the other. An 'enduring courage' is a key moral virtue to encounter the alienation of the sufferer and how it in turn alienates from the sufferer. It is also important to recognize that the complexity of the world of those who have lost loved ones in major catastrophes includes possibilities for reconciliation with the loss. The reconciliation creates hope that opens up for being changed in a changed life situation.