This web page discusses how technological disasters affect communities, including mental health effects, with a particular focus on the Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska in 1989. The page features a guide for communities and individuals coping with oil spills and other technological disasters, as well as peer listener training materials, which equip community members to support and counsel each other.

This guidebook helps community officials and individuals throughout a region affected by a technological disaster recognize, identify, and mitigate the adverse psychological effects associated with these events. Included are culturally appropriate outreach and community healing strategies, as well as chapters with information for community groups and counselors, individuals and families, and local government and businesses.

The appendices are a companion document to <em>Coping with Technological Disasters: A User Friendly Guidebook</em>. This document includes community surveys, newspaper articles, in-service training, information directories, and reports.

This article examines the social and psychological consequences of exposure to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident. Based on findings from a literature review and consultation with experts, the authors describe the different approaches used by mental health professionals in the former Soviet Union and in the West to classify distress and disorders and design treatment programs. The article also provides recommendations for bridging these gaps.

This edition of the SAMHSA Disaster Technical Assistance Center’s research newsletter describes research on reactions children and youth may have to human-caused disasters such as incidents of mass violence, terrorist attacks, and technological disasters. The edition identifies mental health and substance use issues and conditions that may affect young people after human-caused disasters, as well as approaches and interventions to support them.

NRC is an independent agency created by Congress to ensure the safe use of radioactive materials. The agency regulates commercial nuclear power plants and other uses of nuclear materials, such as in nuclear medicine, through licensing, inspection, and enforcement of its requirements.

This infographic shows where to go and what to do in the event of a radiation emergency (i.e., get inside, stay inside, stay tuned for updated instructions from emergency response officials).

This fact sheet offers information on triage, early psychological interventions, and patient education to help disaster responders help themselves, colleagues, and survivors of a radiological incident.

This website section includes information that can help emergency services physicians and nurses manage patients and understand and treat injuries after radiation emergencies.