These major incidents claimed considerable media attention and rightly so. But the only figures produced after each incident referred to fatalities. Without wishing to trivialise any death, it is true to say that dead people do not suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. However, those who saw them die, or who were close to them either emotionally or physically at the time of their death, may well develop symptoms of PTSD. It is generally estimated that for every one death in an incident, there are likely to be at least eight people who are traumatised and go on to develop PTSD. So the thirteen disasters cited in the UK disaster era may well have produced around 8,500 cases of PTSD.

The UK disaster era: 1985-1989

Date	Deaths
12 May 1985	Bradford City Football fire	40
29 May 1985	Heysel Stadium crowd disturbance	56
22 Aug 1985	Manchester Airport fire	55
6 Mar 1987	Herald of Free Enterprise sank	187
19 Aug 1987	Hungerford shootings	16
11 Nov 1987	Enniskillen bombing	12
18 Nov 1987	King's Cross fire	31
6 Jul 1988	Piper Alpha oil rig fire	167
12 Dec 1988	Clapham rail crash	35
21 Dec 1988	Lockerbie plane crash	270
8 Jan 1989	East Midlands air crash	47
15 Apr 1989	Hillsborough Stadium disaster	96
20 Aug 1989	Marchioness pleasure boat sank	51
		Total 1,063

Do you suffer from or feel you might suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?

Have you experienced a traumatic event which was out of the ordinary realm of life? If think about the event, feel jumpy, guilty or avoid feelings take the questionnaire.

But, major disasters account for only a fraction of the number of people who die as a result of accidents or violence.

During the five years of 1985 to 1989 there were 108,862 fatalities of which just 1,063 were linked to the thirteen well publicised major disasters. The rest of the fatalities are made up from car accidents, domestic accidents, crimes of violence and all the other incidents which account for about 56 deaths every day in UK and which pass almost unnoticed by many of us. If the "eight for one rule" is applied to all these deaths, that is, eight cases of PTSD for every fatality, then over 870,000 people suffered from PTSD in Britain during that same five-year period. This figure is equal to 1.5% of the total population.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder High-Risk Groups
Event	Risk
Shipwreck Survivors	75%
Bombing (terrorism) Survivors	50%
Sexual Abuse Victims	50%
Rape Victims	50%
Combat Victims	40%
Hijack Survivors	35%
Victims of Bullying	35%
Air Crash Survivors	25%
Car Crash Victims	20%
General Population	1.5%