Broadening of consciousness: A healing process among the survivors of the Kachchh earthquake

A massive earthquake, magnitude 6.9 on the Richter scale, hit Kachchh (a district in Gujarat state) on 26 January 2001 at 8.46 am. According to the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority, 12,200 people died and several thousand were injured. The salient psychological, ecological and social conditions that threaten the well-being of the survivors of a massive earthquake may include the trauma of losing those near and dear to them, fear of aftershocks, the absence of basic necessities of life (food, shelter and clothes), fear of epidemics, the absence of means of livelihood, the emergence of cultural norms among the survivors (Acharya, 2000), the dehumanization implicit in taking compensation money (James, 2004; Scott, 2000), and the deformation of family and social support networks caused by the availability of compensation money (Parasuraman & Acharya, 2000). I used the bio-psychosocial model, or the cultural psychological perspective of health and illness, and the ethnographic method to understand the phenomenon of suffering and healing under such a crisis situation in the post-earthquake period in Kachchh. In this chapter, I attempt to illustrate how the villagers’ belief in karma1 (internalized duty towards family, community and nature) aided the healing process by enabling them to transcend the boundary of the ‘I’ or the ego and making them realize that their selves were part of a pure and eternal consciousness. In other words, their belief in karma facilitated healing by ‘broadening their consciousness’.2 In this chapter, I first provide the perspective of health and illness on which this study was based. Then, after describing the ethnographic method employed in this study, I present and discuss the findings related to how the survivors’ cultural beliefs shaped the healing process as a ‘broadening of consciousness’. Finally, I also share some of my reflections on how carrying out this study has contributed to my growth as a person.