Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to analyze how Swedish mass media constructed Sweden and Swedes during the first days after the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004. Design/methodology/approach -A qualitative content analysis of newspaper articles from four of the largest newspapers in Sweden was conducted. Findings - The results show that the tsunami was framed as a Swedish disaster almost exclusively focusing on Sweden, Swedish victims and Thailand, and that there was a division

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... ween 'us' and 'them'. Two categories of 'us' and 'them' were identified in the coverage; On the international level Sweden, i.e. 'us', was glorified and contrasted with 'inferior' countries such as Thailand, 'them'; On the national level, the distinction between 'us' and 'them' was not as obvious, but by including particular experiences and practices and excluding others, lines are drawn between 'us'ethnic Swedes -and 'them'everyone else. The conclusion of the paper is that mediated frames of catastrophes are influenced by stereotypes and nationalistic values. Research limitations/implications -The study is based on a qualitative analysis not possible to generalize to other cases. Additional quantitative studies would therefore be of value. Practical implications -This study can be used in the education of crisis and disaster managers to make them aware of how underlying norms guide news coverage and encourage them to always critically consider information based on mass media reports. Originality/value -This paper gives new theoretical and empirical insights into the way in which disasters contribute to recreating and maintaining the historical division between regions and people, both on a national and an international level.