Despite these limitations, our study is valuable in providing the first cross-national data on prevalence of disaster-related PTSD among household residents. Results are clear across countries that post-disaster PTSD is uncommon. This is consistent with previous general population surveys on post-disaster PTSD in Europe (Ferry et al. 2014; Olaya et al. 2015) and the United States (Kessler et al. 1995; Breslau et al. 1998, 2013). As noted in the Introduction, disaster-focused studies, which are typically carried out between 1 month and 2 years after disasters, generally yield considerably higher prevalence estimates, presumably because of unrepresentative samples and demand characteristics, although another consideration is that these studies tend to be carried out primarily in conjunction with the most severe disasters.
