Survivors of some of the most devastating disasters and terrorist attacks in recent history are being forced to fight tooth and nail just to get basic support, according to a leading victims advocate. And Wales has been at the heart of that struggle for decades.
From the Aberfan disaster in 1966, where 116 children and 28 adults were killed when a colliery spoil tip collapsed onto a school, to the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, those left behind have consistently faced what one advocate is calling a “disgraceful” battle to access the help they desperately need.
Aberfan remains one of the darkest chapters in Welsh history. Families who lost children that October morning spent years fighting for recognition, compensation, and proper mental health support. Many survivors have spoken openly about how they were left to cope largely on their own, with grief counselling and long-term psychological care virtually non-existent in the aftermath. The community had to fundraise and campaign just to get the most basic acknowledgement of what they had been through.
Decades later, very little appears to have changed in how the system treats those caught up in mass tragedies.
The advocate, who works closely with survivors across the UK, says the pattern is relentless. People who have already been through unimaginable trauma are then put through a second ordeal trying to navigate bureaucratic systems, funding applications, and legal processes that seem designed to wear them down rather than help them.
“It is disgraceful that in 2024 we are still having this conversation,” they said. “These are people who have lost family members, who carry physical and psychological scars, and instead of being wrapped in support they are left to fight for every single penny and every single service.”
Mental health provision is one of the biggest gaps. Survivors of major incidents often need long-term, specialist psychological support, but what tends to be on offer is short-term, underfunded, and inconsistent. In Wales, where some communities are more rural and services already stretched, accessing that kind of care can be even harder.
Legal support is another minefield. Inquests, public inquiries, and compensation claims can drag on for years, sometimes decades. Families are expected to engage with complex legal processes while simultaneously grieving and trying to rebuild their lives. Without proper funded legal representation, many feel completely overwhelmed and outgunned, particularly when facing well-resourced institutions or government bodies on the other side.
The Hillsborough disaster, while centred in England, drew in many Welsh families and became a defining example of how survivors can spend thirty years fighting just to get the truth acknowledged. The lessons from that case, advocates argue, still have not been properly learned or applied.
For Welsh communities specifically, there is a feeling that devolution has created additional complexity without necessarily improving outcomes. Responsibility for health and some social services sits with the Welsh Government, but other aspects of disaster response and compensation can fall under UK-wide frameworks. Survivors can end up caught between two systems, unsure who is responsible for what.
Campaigners are now calling for a dedicated, properly funded national framework for disaster and terrorism survivors across the UK, with Wales pushing for its own clear provision within that. The ask is not complicated: faster access to mental health support, funded legal representation at inquests and inquiries, and a single point of contact so survivors are not endlessly passed from one department to another.
There is also a growing call for survivor voices to be placed at the centre of designing these systems rather than being consulted as an afterthought. Too often, say advocates, policies are drawn up by people who have never experienced trauma, and it shows.
Aberfan families have been among the most vocal in recent years about the need for lasting change. Some survivors are now elderly, and they have watched younger generations affected by more recent tragedies go through the same exhausting battles they faced half a century ago. That, many say, is the real disgrace.
Until governments at both Cardiff Bay and Westminster treat survivor support as an urgent priority rather than a box-ticking exercise, the cycle is likely to continue. And for those already carrying so much, being forced to fight for help is a burden they should never have to bear.