Disasters and Coping Mechanisms in Cakchiquel Guatemala: The Cultural Context.

Abstract

Where disasters occur and organizations and agencies respond to that disaster with assistance or developmental programs, the effectiveness of a program will depend to a great extent on the understanding of how the receipient cultures function and methods that can be utilized to work withing the pre-existing cultural framework. The major focus of the following paper is on the identification of the coping mechanisms that are inherent in the culture systems in Guatemala from the viewpoint of their effectiveness, and how they may be used as channels for efficient and effective assistance and development projects.