Gul Hussain, Iram Gul, Nafeesa Sireer, Sajida Naz.
Psychological reactions of children following an earthquake.
Pak Paed J Jan ;32(4):230-5.

Trauma survivors especially children are at increased risk of experiencing psychological distress following a devastating natural disaster such as Earthquake of October 8, 2005 in Pakistan Objective: The objective was to assess the psychological reactions of children following a disastrous earthquake. Methods: A sample of 40 children (age 8-15years) was selected from the rehabilitation camps of Islamabad three months after the earthquake. Post disaster psychological reactions were measured with Child’s Reactions to traumatic event scale, Children’s behavior checklist, Depression scale for children, and House tree and Person drawing test. Results: Data analysis revealed that majority of the children exhibited clinically significant levels of post traumatic stress reactions, anxiety and depressive symptoms. Somatic complaints such as head aches (67%) and nausea (54%) were also reported by the children. Responses on depression scale and traumatic event scales significantly correlated with HTP interpretations. Conclusion: The study highlighted the importance of psychological screening and assessment of earthquake survivors and the need to provide specialized post-disaster mental health services to children and adolescents with significant levels of posttraumatic stress and depressive reactions.

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