The recent adverse weather conditions have put the country on an emergency footing. No district has been spared. No age group escaped its vicious battering. Young and old have been affected. In its wake, thousands of people have been forced to abandon their homes, possessions, separated from their kith and kin and seek refuge in temporary shelters. Little prepared for the brutal onslaught of a storm, they remain still recovering from the physical, emotional, psychological scars that are likely to resonate as a reminder of their dreadful experience as they attempt to get back to their daily chores.
Mental problems of victims
Responding to a question by the Sunday Observer on the mental problems of the victims and whether sufficient trained medical personnel were available to help those suffering from emotional and psychological scars, Consultant Community Physician, Health Education Bureau, Dr Ranjith Batuwantudawe said, “All our doctors have been trained in giving psychological first aid, talking to traumatized victims and sharing their grief, as we realize it is very important that such people need to speak out their feelings and talk to each other in support groups. We also encourage children to interact and play freely with one another under adult supervision”.
NGO inputs - Sri Lanka Sumithrayo
The Sunday Observer also contacted a well known nongovernmental organization, Sri Lanka Sumithrayo which this month celebrates 43 years of helping traumatized persons cope with their emotional and mental problems.
Founder Director of the Sri Lanka Sumithrayo rural program, Lakshmi Ratnayake who packs over 40 years of experience in the field, was quick to admit the organisation did not have professionals such as clinical psychologists or psychiatrists. She stressed that most of the workers who were volunteers were trained to help children and adults. She said, it was too early to talk about the mental effects on children or even adults. “It is like a war. Right now they are in the thick of a disaster situation. But, in a month or two, their grief will overwhelm them. It is at this time that adults need to talk to some organization such as Sumithrayo, to get help. They can get in touch with our head office who will put them in touch with the closest of our eleven centres at Kohuwala, Kandy, Bandarawela, Matale, Kurunegala, Negombo, Panduwasnuwara, Ambalantota and Lunugamvehera.”
So in your 40 years of experience how have children usually responded to a disaster situation?
“Let me talk about their response to the Tsunami in 2004 in which we were heavily involved. What we observed was how well children adapted to the situation and were able to quickly bounce back with the kindness of the community, even after they had lost a close relative, a sibling or even a parent. It is parents and adults who suffered the most as they understood the ground realities best. The way they responded then is likely to be the same as children caught up in the present floods.”
We asked her how children showing symptoms of post traumatic stress disorders such as refusal to return to school, clinging on to their minders for fear of being separated from adults caring for them, loss of concentration and irritability, headaches, listlessness, can be helped by parents, close relatives or the community.
“Here, the adults caring for such children have a great responsibility. What is important is that the child must not feel abandoned. If they are going out anywhere, they must inform the child where they are going, and assure him/her they will be returning soon. They have to have that assurance that their carer has not abandoned them. Parents should talk about what happened, to their children and their abilities to cope, without pretending it never happened. They must allow children to express their feelings freely and not treat them like adults. If they want to cry, let them cry. But, hug them and make them feel secure. If they are scared about sleeping alone or in the dark, let them sleep with the lights on or if there is no electricity, let the child sleep with their minders.”
Post disaster mental problems of children
Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr Harsha de Silva, echoing similar sentiments said, “We have dispatched consultants and doctors holding psychiatric diplomas to our various camps. We don’t have a cadre for psychological, but our doctors have been trained to handle both psychological and psychiatric problems in adults and children, from grassroots levels.”
Asked if he regarded the lack of a special cadre for dealing with psychological problems of traumatised people a problem, he said, “I don’t see it as a problem. It’s a matter of accessing trained personnel and sending them to specific camps which need their help. If there are any such persons willing to help us, they can contact me on my mobile: 0777300177.”
Responding to our question on whether the Health Ministry had sent out guidelines on dealing with the mental and emotional problems of those impacted by the floods, he said, “All our Medical Officers of Health and Regional Directors have been sent guidelines with a list of Dos and Don’ts with regard to children in particular”.
Death toll
The official sources have updated the number of deaths due to the floods to 224 and the number missing to 96. According to the latest reports from the Ministry of Education reported by the Sunday Observer last week, 45 children have died, and eight were missing. The highest number of child deaths was from Ratnapura and Horana. Five locations in Walasmulla have so far been identified as prone to earth slips with 41 families evacuated to safe places.
The big question is: Will these families return to their homes refusing to stay in the safe areas they are now placed in? The same day on which this tragedy was reported, the Navy urged flood affected people currently staying in safer locations, not to return to their homes by small boats or rafts, until the flood waters recede. Navy Media Spokesman Chaminda Walakuluge was quoted as saying, three members of the same family, including a 14 year old boy, had been drowned after a raft toppled near Ogaspe Temple in Thudawa, Matara, when they were returning to their inundated home. He cautioned that the efforts taken to send flood affected people to safer locations would be in vain if they do not stay in their present locations until the flood waters recede.
His warning that when floods recede, there will be a strong current which will drag things at a faster speed, and boats travelling in flood water would thus be at greater risk, is both timely and should be heeded. The Disaster Unit of the Health Ministry has also warned those returning to their homes to be vigilant and look out for signs of future landslides, such as, cracks in walls, slanting trees, etc..
Rescue operations
The Tri service troops as well as the different state agencies, have stepped up their rescue operations in various relief centres in the post disaster phase of the devastating floods.
According to latest reports, the Army, Navy and Air Force and Police were providing all possible assistance to the displaced in the 208 temporary relief centres in temples, mosques, factories, public health centres, etc. Mobile eye clinics, skin clinics and general clinics have also been initiated in most districts.
Also, heartening to note is the response from the international community. An emergency UN Response plan of the humanitarian arm of the international community is now busy identifying the most severely affected families and helping to clean and repair their houses, clear the rubble, and clean their contaminated wells.
While all these activities are commendable, the spread of dengue is also running high. It is therefore regrettable that garbage bags left for collection for the past two weeks on roads and by-lanes in and around Kollupitiya and Bambalapitiya still line the roads uncollected, and attacked by cats, dogs, crows, rats and the deadly dengue carrying mosquitoes whose larvae have begun multiplying with a vengeance in the ‘swimming pools’ caused by badly levelled roads from unauthorised pipelines running across our roads.
While the Dengue Control Unit sources have stressed that the only way to reduce the risk of mosquito breeding sites is for the public to act responsibly and clean their immediate environments, our question is, how can we do so if our garbage continues to adorn our lanes uncollected.
CMC sources we contacted have shifted the blame to the Road Development Authority which in turn has shifted it to the Environmental Police.
Please tell us, whose responsibility is it?
Over to our readers; [email protected]