Community disruption
A widespread consequence of the tsunami, similar to other crises and disasters worldwide, was a total disruption of communities. 

Devastations of physical infrastructure and extensive loss of human lives led to displacement of entire communities to camps or other temporary abode.  In the Maldives, entire islands were made inhabitable by the tsunami waves, and whole island populations were relocated. 

In all the affected coutnries, the Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies worked hard to restore links between family and community members.  Restoring links community plays a huge role for psychosocial well-being.

Psychosocial well-being: the role of the community
The Psychosocial Working Group explains the concept of psychosocial well-being with respect to three core domains:

• Human capacity: one's physical and mental health, or one's strengths and individual resources
• Social ecology: social connections and support through relationships, networks and support systems in the community
• Culture and values: norms and behaviour linked to the value system in a community or society, together with individual and social expectations

It is clear from this explanation that the experience of psychosocial wellbeing is dependent on both personal resources and social relations.  This was affirmed in the psychosocial responses to the tsunami, where participation in community activities proved to be critical for improving both individual and community psychosocial wellbeing.

Community participation: key to success for psychosocial interventions
The diverse approaches used to plan and implement psychosocial responses following the tsunami had differing results. From these, a very important lesson learnt has been that the active participation of the affected population (also referred to as the community) in all stages of the psychosocial response is essential for success. 

It is the affected population who know what their needs and resources are. They are therefore also critical partners in identifying relevant approaches and activities that will address the needs in an acceptable and effective mannger. 

Once activities are underway, it is also the communities themselves who can best assess if these are having the desired effect; and finally they know at the end of the program if the community needs more external support.

It is therefore strongly recommended that the targeted community should participate fully in assessing needs; planning and implementation; monitoring and evaluation; and finally in ending or phasing out a response. 

Community participation enables community members to take responsibility for their own and their neighbour's wellbeing, empowering them to protect the community's psychosocial health.