An 'International Conference on Disaster Management and Trauma Counseling' will be held in Bangalore from December 21 to 22 to provide a platform for people working in this field to share their experience and expertise.

The Centre for Psychological Counseling, Bangalore University in collaboration with Sumanahalli Society, Caritas India and Darshan College and Research Institute, Bangalore, is organising the two-day event, organisers told a news conference in Chennai Monday.

• Tsunami tragedy

The theme of the conference included physical effects of the tsunami (human, property and environmental losses), psychological and social effects (grief, shock, depression, displacement, loss of loved ones etc), psychological and physical rehabilitation and disaster aspects (prediction, administrative and community level).

"The conference will help evolve southeast Asian collaborative strategies to deal with disasters in the future," said N Santhus Gnanapragasam, manager, Tsunami [Images] Relief & Rehabilitation Centre, Caritas India.

He said an international training of trainers on disaster management and trauma counselling was also being organised in February 2006 in continuation of the conference to train field workers and equip and empower them to effectively deal with any disaster.

Gnanapragasam said a report on the study on 'Quality of life after tsunami' will be released during the conference. Paper presentations from experts from all around the world on various aspects of disaster management will be another feature, he said.