“Major disasters make the victims feel that nothing is certain and that they can lose everything,” says Cem Taylat Erdem, a Turkish psychiatrist who volunteered to work with earthquake survivors.
A team of Turkish mental health experts is working to help survivors of the devastating Turkey-Syria earthquake deal with the aftermath of the trauma.
The volunteers seek to treat the psychological wounds that afflict those who have gone through such a disaster, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 73,000 people and left widespread destruction in parts of the two countries.
“Major disasters make the victims feel that nothing is certain and that they can lose everything,” says Cem Taylat Erdem, a Turkish psychiatrist who volunteered to work with earthquake survivors.
“But we can give them strength by standing shoulder to shoulder and coming together for solidarity,” he adds.
Erdem stresses that “beautiful words” alone are not enough to help the mourners, as one must “stand by them and deliver a strong message in this direction” because “trauma hurts” those who are subjected to it.
Victims of natural disasters may suffer from depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, especially during the first six months of the disaster.
Psychiatrist Aisha Sumaya Dall, who also volunteered to work with survivors in southern Turkey, points out the importance of not talking about the details of the victims’ deaths in front of children, who are more affected than others by hearing about these horrific experiences.
She says the children she saw after the quake had “symptoms such as severe anxiety, decreased daily activities, problems sleeping and eating, and irritability.”
She warned of the emergence of several different psychological disorders in children in the following years if they did not receive support and a safe place was not established for them in the post-earthquake period.
