MANILA, Philippines — The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has called on UN member states and the international community to “act now” and ensure long-term measures to tackle natural disasters.

“With devastating floods, hurricanes and earthquakes that have impacted numerous countries, humanitarian response must be complemented by medium and long-term recovery and reconstruction efforts,” the ECOSOC said in a statement issued by its president Marie Chatardová.

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“Early humanitarian response has been critical for saving lives and livelihoods and the provision of essential services,” Chatardová said following the council’s special meeting on the “Aftermath of recent hurricanes: Achieving a risk-informed and resilient 2030 Agenda” last week.

She said preparedness and partnerships played an essential role in enabling the quick arrival of humanitarian response and emergency supplies during disaster.

Chatardová also issued a statement expressing the council’s condolences to disaster victims and extending solidarity to all the affected people and governments in the hurricane-hit Caribbean, Central America, the United States and Mexico, which was struck by successive earthquakes as well as Africa and South Asia where severe floodings occured.

ECOSOC has been assessing displacements and disruptions to livelihoods of people and their immediate needs such as health, water, sanitation and hygiene, food security and shelter.

It called for greater investment in disaster risk reduction, including preparedness, early warning and early action and urged for greater risk-informed investment in infrastructure and housing.

“We call for stronger collaboration, connectivity and complementarity between humanitarian, development, disaster risk reduction and climate action to define and deliver collective outcomes and to reduce need, risk and vulnerability over multiple years,” said the council.

It said attention must be given to the most vulnerable people facing climate change and extreme weather events.

Elaborating on the measures needed in both the medium and long term, the council called for longer term recovery, development and reconstruction programs, pointing to, among others, the regeneration of industries, including tourism, agriculture and fisheries.

“More importantly, key industries and livelihoods must be made sustainable and resilient to the impacts of future extreme weather events and other hazards. We must support efforts of affected and vulnerable countries to diversify their economies and harness the benefits of digital economy to enhance their economic resilience,” the statement explained.

“We need to act urgently,” council members said, adding that they are committed to continue to promote coordination of UN work in development and progress of countries.

After a disaster, a major network of disaster counselors and mental health professional spring into action. Their task? Aid people with the sometimes long and invisible recovery that takes place following a traumatic event.

It could be after a natural disaster, like a hurricane or wildfire. Or a tragedy, like a mass shooting or crime. Either way, there's an important personal recovery that needs to take place — and people whose job it is to help.

Psychologist James Halpern was a first responder at both 9/11 and the Sandy Hook school shooting, which left 20 children dead. He's co-author of the book "Disaster Mental Health Interventions: Core Principles and Practices." He's also a professor emeritus and founding director of the Institute for Disaster Mental Health at SUNY New Paltz.

Halpern joined Marketplace Weekend host Lizzie O'Leary to talk about the role of mental health professionals following a disaster.Below is an edited transcript of the conversation.

Lizzie O’Leary: We are reflecting on the five year anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting. That's something you responded to. Can you walk us through what happens as a mental health first responder? You know, in that case what do you do?

James Halpern: I was with the families on the second day of the event. There was considerable fear and considerable chaos. We tried to provide some calm and safety. But they also asked us questions like, “How could this have happened to me? How could this have happened to my wonderful child?” And those are not real questions for us counselors. Those are cries or laments. What we can do is offer kindness and compassion and support. But some of the questions they asked, which had to do with how they supported their other children, were real questions. About whether or not the kids could watch these events on TV. And the answer is no. Whether or not it was good for those young children to be interviewed by the press. The answer is no. So, some combination of what might be considered crisis counseling and compassion and support.

O’Leary: What sort of disasters have you responded to and do people like you respond to?

Halpern: Sorry I'm laughing, but yeah, I mean disasters are so common and getting more common, it seems. You know, the United States, people don't appreciate, has the most extreme weather in the world. So in addition to the kind of floods and fires that are most typical, we have a hurricane season. We have a tornado season. We have a wildfire season that seems to be expanding. Of course, we've got earthquakes, explosions, transportation accidents, plane crashes, epidemics, anything that involves considerable human suffering beyond a person.

O’Leary: Listening to the breadth of what you're talking about, what does it cost to provide mental health care for so many people in such a variety of situations? And who pays for that? 

Halpern: In the early stages of disaster, crisis counseling is typically free. There are 5,000 mental health professionals deployed around the country by the Red Cross. These are psychologists, social workers, mental health counselors, who give up their time and energy to provide that kind of pro bono service. There's also county, state, federal workers who, similarly, can be at shelters or family assistance centers. Now, over time some significant minority can develop long-term symptoms. And those folks are treated by professionals with health care, Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance. And depending on the nature of the disaster it can be supported by the federal government. For instance, if the disaster was a crime, like the Las Vegas shooting or 9/11, then there’s support from crime victims services for long-term care.

O’Leary: You know, I'm thinking about Puerto Rico. I just came back from a trip reporting on the island and that’s a place with significant devastation. I would imagine that the kinds of mental health services required over time change dramatically as we move farther out from the event itself.

Halpern: Most folks experience significant but transient symptoms. They're OK and don't need that long-term help. On the other hand, there's some considerable research from the gulf oil spill where it leads to long-term economic dislocation, job loss. You see significant depression that needs to be addressed.

O’Leary: There’s a study from the National Institute of Mental Health that says it would have cost about $12.5 billion to provide what they call “comprehensive mental health care for 24 months” to the people affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Make the economic argument for me, the cost benefit analysis, of why that money is worth spending on mental health.

Halpern: These are disaster survivors who certainly bear no blame for being in the middle of these kinds of events. They are suffering. There is job loss. And those treatments work. We can reduce, then, long-term problems in substance abuse, in family violence, and family conflict, and individual suffering. There's enormous benefit that we get when people are functioning effectively.

O’Leary: Do you think as a country we have made any collective strides in understanding that mental health is something worth spending money on?

Halpern: I think there is much less stigma now. It can be a struggle to find resources to cover those invisible wounds. I think easier, probably, to find resources for injuries and illnesses than for those invisible scars.

O’Leary: Is it hard to find the people who need help, after all a disaster can scatter survivors all over the place?

Halpern: Yes. I think that we could do better at providing more comprehensive screening, which would not be very costly. And there are, in fact, check lists where we can identify folks who are likely to have serious mental health problems.

O’Leary: What's the impact on the people who do this work? I would imagine this is not easy.

Halpern: There are of course the obvious physical hazards. But for all responders, including mental health counselors, there's listening to stories of trauma repeatedly, which can result in compassion fatigue. Or burnout. Or vicarious trauma, that you can begin to feel traumatized yourself just by hearing those stories secondhand. And, again, I think that that puts all responders at risk, and why it's so important for all of those responders, and all of us as counselors to have very careful self care plans.