In light of the Japanese earthquakes and Pacific Tsunami and consequently the nuclear plant meltdowns, I came across many articles that related the horrors and destruction to that of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombing. Though the range of people who experienced trauma during these horrible acts extends beyond veterans, it is still a WWII stressor inducing memory that haunts a group of elderly today. Japan's population holds one of the highest percentages of elderly in a country, at 23%, double that of the US. I am sure that much of these elderly are reminded of the chaos they lived through during WWII. In a New York Times article, a reporter interviews elderly Japanese to see their reaction to the natural disaster. 75 year old Hirosato Wako states that he had lived through Sendai Air Raids and Bombings during WWII, however to him the scale of wreckage from the Tsunami seems even greater. Many elderly were too feeble to survive the disaster. With missing family and friends, and countless injuries and deaths, the tsunami has surely brought back horrors and feelings of battle and war.
I found it interesting that the US National center for PTSD has provided a page with resources for the survivors of the the Japan earthquake and tsunami. This reminds us of the possible new trauma that could be created from all the destruction.
Sources
http://youtu.be/WICvdMWin9M
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