The pain of disaster can be as elusive as the pain of illness. Kai Erikson argues that catastrophic events such as the Buffalo Creek Flood in Virginia cause a syndrome that includes pain such as numbness, reliving the event, family loss, community loss, and many other things. 'others. The problem that arises when faced with such a catastrophe is how to manage the pain endured by its victims. Veena Das and Elaine Scarry argue that pain cannot be shared, but it also calls for attention. Through a thorough review of Kai Erikson's article on the events that took place at Buffalo Creek and the reference literature on pain, it becomes clear that recognizing and generalizing the pain and suffering of victims are impossible to validate and, as a result, disaster relief efforts are greatly compromised. Buffalo Creek is a coal mining town located in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. The town revolves around coal mining. Generations after generations have benefited from the plethora of coal provided by the mountains. However, alongside the plethora of coal came an immense amount of coal by-products, one of which was coal sludge. For years, coal companies dumped massive quantities of toxin-filled water and coal sludge along mountain slopes, into streams and the sides of nearby mountains. At Buffalo Creek, the Buffalo Mining Company "used more than half a million gallons of water a day to clean the four thousand tons of coal it loaded onto the railroads (Erikson, 25)." The company used the mountain landscape and remaining debris compacted by bulldozers to create an artificial impoundment, or “dam,” as the townspeople called it. This man-made structure held 132 million gallons of toxic coal sludge. By creating... middle of paper ... it is no wonder that the silt and sludge that was originally used to construct the impoundment itself persists throughout the city years after the disaster. Everything remained contaminated. Another damaging blow to the community was the illusion that it was safe. Before the flood, Buffalo Creek residents felt safe in their neighborhoods and homes, but that sense of security was taken away by their towns. All they are left with is the feeling of impending doom. Many people said in an interview conducted by Erikson that they feared everything. One man even reports that if there was just one storm warning, it would keep him up all night, worried about its impending destruction. In addition to the individual and collective trauma, pain also arises in the legal formality and coldness shown towards the survivors of Buffalo Creek. disaster.