A full-scale public health response to disasters must attend to both the physical and mental health needs of affected groups. The latter set of needs is especially important because most authorities agree that far more individuals will report psychologically-related complaints than will report physical symptoms directly stemming from the injury-causing agent or event. Because a large-scale emergency will overwhelm existing mental health response resources, psychological first aid – the provision of basic psychological care in the short term aftermath of a traumatic event – is an important skill set that all public health workers should possess.