Traumatized survivors need more than hugs
- Source: Global Times
- [23:47 May 11 2010]
- Comments
Illustration: Liu Rui
By Wu Mian
If the Yushu earthquake victims are somehow luckier than those who lost their home two years ago during Wenchuan earthquake, it may be because of their faith.
A friend of mine who just finished rescue work in Yushu told me red-robed Tibetan monks could be seen everywhere. They stood by, offering prayers, comforts or simply hugs.
Some commented that this showed the superiority of religion in giving mental comfort to the believers.
The scene also suggested a lack of psychological counseling dealing with post-crisis trauma in China.
There has been an outpouring of concern from across China after recent earthquakes.
Take Wenchuan. A charity gala was put on CCTV, which encouraged businesses to donate 1.514 billion yuan ($221.70 million).
But what happened afterward?
Some celebrities even went to the scene. Olympic table tennis gold medalist Zhang Yining and several other well-known athletes came to the tent that served as the temporary classroom for children and played with them. But how long an impact will five minutes with the stars have on the children?
To discuss this issue, we might have to look back to the huge earthquake that hit in Tangshan, Hebei Province on July 28, 1976.
With more than 242,000 people killed and 164,000 severely injured, many Tangshanese still struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) even today.
One man who was buried for over 60 hours in the ruins found he suffered panic attacks when using the toilet for years afterward due to his severe claustrophobia.
Some who managed to survive the earthquake never managed the pain of losing their family members.
Yet these people were forgotten. The usual way they were mentioned in the news was as an ob-ject case to compare to the improved rescue techniques nowadays.
Some might argue that back in the 1970s, psychological counseling barely existed in China. That may be true, but what about the victims in Wenchuan?
Besides the 900 lucky children who were sent to Russia for a month's psychological rehab, 45 million adults and other children haven't received sufficient psychological support.
According to statistics provided by the Institute of Psychology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, six months after the Wenchuan earthquake, 12.7 to 22.1 percent of the primary and high school students in Mianyang, Sichuan Province, still suffered from PTSD, 13.2 to 21.5 percent showed severe symptoms of depression, while 20.2 to 29.9 percent had anxiety attacks.
The number remained high after a year. More than 13.4 percent of the students continued to suffer from PTSD, 16.1 suffered from depression, whereas 22.7 percent were troubled by anxiety.
By the end of May 2009, more than 2,000 psychology volunteers had visited Wenchuan, yet most of them were not well trained to deal with large-scale events like this, and the majority of the victims received almost no help.
Due to their limited experience and a lack of backup services, many volunteers later suffered from similar psychological pressures as the local victims after being exposed to the disaster zone.
