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On October 12, 2002, the island of Bali experienced a horrific terrorist attack in which 202 people, 88 of them Australian, died; many of the victims were young people on holiday. This article chronicles the authors' experience as policy makers, administrators, and clinicians responding to the bombing. It focuses on the immediate and continuing needs of those involved and the complex challenges faced by a systems response in the acute and ongoing phases. Survivors' narratives, reflecting the enduring difficulties experienced by both individuals and systems, are included. The article highlights issues of mental health aspects of disaster victim identification and responses to the variously affected groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To examine terrorism survivors' perceptions of factors likely to promote coping and recovery, and to determine whether coping supports vary according to demographic, physical and mental health, incident-exposure and bereavement variables., Design, Setting and Participants: Individuals directly exposed to and/or bereaved by the 2002 Bali bombings and who had participated in a New South Wales Health therapeutic support program completed cross-sectional telephone interviews during July-November 2010. Spoken passages were categorised into coping support themes. Advocated supports were then examined by demographic, physical and mental health, incident-exposure and bereavement variables., Main Outcome Measures: Based on their experiences, respondents identified personal, social and service-related factors that they believed would optimally support future survivors of terrorism., Results: Of the 81 people contacted, 55 (68%) participated, providing a total of 114 comments. Thirty-two respondents were women, and 54 had lost relatives or friends in the bombing. Mean age was 50 years (range, 20-73 years). Four meaningful coping support themes emerged, with excellent inter-rater reliability: professional help and counselling; social support; proactive government response and policy; and personal coping strategies. Women were significantly more likely to advocate the need for proactive government response (P = 0.03). Men were more likely to endorse the use of personal coping strategies (P < 0.01). Respondents diagnosed with a mental health condition since the bombings were significantly less likely to advocate social support processes (P = 0.04)., Conclusions: Our findings highlight the perceived value of counselling-related services for terrorism-affected groups. Male survivors may benefit more from mental health interventions that initially build on problem-focused forms of coping, including brief education about reactions and periodic check-ups. Proactive government health and support services that allow simplified and longer-term access were consistently identified as priority areas.