Ordinary Responses to an Extraordinary Disaster: Sewol Ferry Sinking and the Victim Families' Experience

Abstract

Sewol Ferry sinking was a man-made disaster that happened on April 16, 2014, in South Korea, resulting in 304 deaths. In the 2 years following the disaster, the Special Investigation Commission on the Sewol Ferry Disaster conducted a qualitative study with the victim families to investigate their experience. One hundred forty-five interviews were conducted with parents, aunts, and grandparents of high school student victims by a team of clinical and community psychologists. Based on 54 in-depth interviews with parents and parent figures randomly selected out of the 145 interviews conducted, we aimed to understand the lived experience of the victim parents. The grounded theory yielded 59 codes and five categories, whose core variable was self-empowerment of the victim community. The community of victim families was supported by the engagement of other citizens, as well as the victim families themselves. The meanings implicated in the results, along with the practical implications in the community, are discussed.