Workshop "Coping with Disasters": Presentations online!

In autumn 2019, the graduate course "Coping with Disasters" was launched at the Institute for Sustainability Studies, University of Iceland. The course aligns with the pillars of resilience that have been investigated by NORDRESS members over the last years. It introduces the students to the main concepts of disaster risk reduction as well as factors that influence a society´s resilience to disatrous events.

Led by Dr. Uta Reichardt and Prof. Guðrún Pétursdóttir, the course concluded with an intense four day workshop in the Icelandic countryside. Together with experts from the NORDRESS community, Icelandic disaster-, trauma- and grief practitioners, artists and survivors, the participants explored the role of psychological first aid, art and spirituality in coping with hardship, tragedies and trauma. The workshop was a unique experience that showed the diverse layers of resilience and the need to listen and learn between fields to help communities cope.

The Institute for Sustainability Studies is very excited to share these insightful presentations on coping with the NORDRESS community.

Please find the links below. All presentations are password secured. Password: coping

We would like to thank all presenters, once again, for their invaluable contribution and the NSSA for the generous funding of the workshop.

Psychologist Renate G. Bugge talks about her decades of experience giving and organizing psychological aid in disaster situations, including the 2011 Oslo and Utøya terror attacks.

Jón Brynjar Birgisson, Director of Domestic department of Icelandic Red Cross, gives a talk on his experiences providing psychological aid following natural disasters in Iceland and Greenland.

Pastor Sigfinnur Þorleifsson talks about the role of religion, spirituality and rituals in healing after disastrous events. He is then joined by Psychologist Renate G. Bugge for the following discussion.

Hrafnhildur Hagalín Guðmundsdóttir and Björn Thors on the role of art in coping: The playwrights recount the story of the 1995 avalanche in the small town of Flateyri, Northwestern Iceland, their journey and interaction with the community and their creation of a stage play and podcast about the event.