2026 Volume 13 Issue 1 Pages 16-19
Aim: The Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, caused an accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). The damage caused by the combination of earthquake, tsunami, and radiation required mass evacuation of the local population. The evacuation to shelters is well known, but the grief that disaster victims experienced is not widely known. This paper considers the reasons for the lack of acknowledgment of the grief of disaster victims following the disaster.
Methods: After a literature search revealed articles on post-disaster grief, this narrative research method involved the author doing a narrative summary of two forms of grief encountered among disaster victims. The author then reflected on the implications for nursing practice.
Results: The disaster victims experienced complex grief. Those who lost their homes and loved ones in the tsunami immediately following the earthquake felt their suffering was insignificant and were reluctant to speak openly about their grief. Some disaster victims attempted to soothe their emotional pain and anguish by dismissing their own suffering as insignificant. Moreover, those who worked at the Fukushima-Daiichi NPP and lost colleagues in the tsunami were unable to express their grief, owing to the stigma of being associated with the disaster.
Conclusions: Some disaster victims minimized their own suffering and sadness by comparing it with that of other victims. Others were hesitant to speak of their grief owing to the stigma of being associated with the disaster. Disaster nursing should be provided with an awareness that bereavement has profound emotional effects on those affected.
