The concept of resilience has become a dominant paradigm in the discourse on disaster recovery.

Yet, as the dust settles on the rubble of Myanmar’s devastating March 2025 earthquake, profound questions emerge about our understanding of what resilience truly means. The 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar’s Sagaing region claimed over 2,000 lives and left countless others grappling with trauma that extends far beyond physical destruction.

“The earth moved beneath our feet. Now, even when it is still, I feel it moving. How can I rebuild my home when I cannot trust the ground?” says Saw Min, who lost his home in Shan state. His words capture what experts identify as the often-overlooked psychological dimension of disaster – one that traditional recovery efforts frequently fail to address.

Video screengrab.

At the cost of exposing readers to complex academic jargon, an explanation of the image above (extracted from a CNN video clip from Mandalay) display hallmark features of acute stress neurobiology – parasympathetic dominance masking sympathetic hyperarousal.

Their vacant expressions indicate peri-traumatic dissociation (freeze and collapse) with compromised prefrontal-limbic integration, while their paradoxical stillness represents dorsal vagal (fight and flight) shutdown rather than adaptive coping. This tonic immobility response, characterised by reduced oculomotor activity and minimal facial engagement, correlates strongly with subsequent PTSD development, if not addressed in time.

In short, their apparent composure reflects not resilience but traumatic encoding – what psychiatric Bessel van der Kolk terms “speechless terror” – requiring targeted psycho-social interventions to prevent long-term damage.

The conventional definition of resilience in disaster management describes ‘the ability of human communities to withstand external shocks or perturbations to their infrastructure and to recover from such perturbations’. However, this emphasis on infrastructure disregards the shock to each life, which cannot rebuild as a building would. The allostatic load on each victim (accepting and adapting to post-disaster stress) impairs adaptive capacity, emphasising the need for external psychological interventions.

‘The cult of resilience’ is often stated to be the core of disaster management. It found focused expression in the phrase ‘build back better’ in the Sendai Framework of 2015. However, such focus fails to account for the complex neuro-biological and psycho-social dimensions of disaster recovery.

Rebuilding the victim’s state of mind is a much more challenging task than structural reconstruction. Evidence from Myanmar suggests that psychological trauma constitutes a primary dimension of disaster impact. The impact of trauma on the human brain can be seen in neural circuits involving the amygdala (responsible for processing emotions like fear) and the hippocampus (critical for memory formation). Traumatic events can disrupt the normal functioning of these regions, leading to heightened anxiety and impaired cognitive processing.

Victims in the worst-hit areas describe not just the loss of homes but shattering of their sense of safety and community. These testimonials demonstrate how trauma disrupts fundamental psychological constructs, illustrating what trauma experts call ‘somatic memory’, where trauma becomes encoded in physiological responses that persist long after the traumatic event itself. As a result, the human body stores traumatic experiences, manifesting as physical sensations or reactions in response to triggers. For example, survivors may experience hyperarousal – an exaggerated startled response or constant state of vigilance – when exposed to sounds or vibrations that resemble those during an earthquake.

PTSD is a ‘neuro-biological time bomb’ where dormant trauma can resurface unpredictably through triggers. Survivors face intrusive memories, nightmares, and persistent hypervigilance, keeping their nervous system on high alert despite ‘objective safety’. Symptoms may emerge weeks, months or even years later – often after survivors are presumed ‘recovered.’

Effective psycho-social support following exposure to trauma, requires a multi-faceted approach.

First, psychological first aid promotes safety, calming, self-efficacy, connectedness and hope.

Second, strengthening social support networks proves critical, as research consistently demonstrates that social capital serves as a protective factor in post-disaster recovery.

Thirdly, cognitive techniques have shown remarkable efficacy in reducing symptoms of trauma among survivors.

These include addressing patterns of extreme-negative ie. ‘catastrophic thinking’ and approaches of mindfulness ie. encouraging present-moment awareness and emotional regulation, that regulate the body’s stress response system. Specifically, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps individuals identify and modify maladaptive thought patterns contributing to distress.

Also read: The Mandalay Earthquake Has Lessons for India

India’s health ministry offers a comprehensive model for disaster mental health in addition to NDMA’s 2023 guidelines that integrate psychological support across all disaster phases. Key components include Tele MANAS, providing 24/7 mental health services through a two-tier system; the National Mental Health Programme, integrating care at community level; the District Mental Health Programme, delivering local services; and the Mental Healthcare Act of 2017, protecting patients’ rights. This coordinated approach establishes mental health as a core element of disaster management rather than an afterthought.

The psycho-social impacts of disasters on survivors vary significantly depending on the hazard type, as evidenced by the contrasting trauma profiles observed in the 2023 Sikkim GLOF and 2024 Wayanad landslides. Both events caused widespread psychological distress, but their distinct characteristics shaped different mental health challenges. The Wayanad landslides, triggered by torrential rainfall, produced acute distress characterised by recurring visions of entrapment and the “thundering sound” preceding disaster. Survivors exhibited sleep disturbances and persistent anxiety, exacerbated by displacement and livelihood loss. In this agrarian region, occupational instability created profound despair among adults, while children displayed somatic grief symptoms, fixating on lost friends and belongings.

The Sikkim GLOF revealed another dimension of climate-related trauma, causing immediate psychological distress tied to the loud rumble and rapid inundation. Survivors developed fear psychosis triggered by environmental cues like rainfall or the sound of sirens, requiring long-term counselling for recurring panic attacks.

Both climate-induced disasters produced similar clinical manifestations – PTSD, chronic anxiety, and somatic symptoms – but with distinctive environmental triggers that highlight the need for climate-informed mental health approaches. Wayanad’s survivors associated trauma with geophysical cues while Sikkim’s linked it to hydrological warnings. Economic instability in Wayanad centred on agricultural loss, whereas Sikkim’s survivors faced ecological damage and increased risk from climate-vulnerable glaciers, demonstrating how climate change amplifies psychological suffering through environmental uncertainty.

The Indian and Myanmarese experience reveals a profound truth: true resilience lies not in rebuilt structures, but in healed minds capable of re-envisioning life amid uncertainty.

Dr. Ghanishta Suri is a senior consultant, Disaster Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support, NDMA.

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