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Survivors of Türkiye's quakes continue to grapple with trauma from disaster

UNICEF says as many as 5.4 million children who live across the quake zone could face mental challenges such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

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"The stress is chronic and constant and it is now beyond a level that we can cope with," Ayse Bilge Selcuk, psychologist said.

It has been three weeks since Tugce Seren Gul's aunt and grandmother were killed in Antakya when devastating earthquakes struck Türkiye's southeast. And yet every night, she waits until 4.17 AM in the morning, the exact time that the disaster hit, to try to go to sleep.

"I keep thinking another disaster will strike at that time and just wait for it to pass," said Gul, 28, who managed to run out of her family's house with her mother moments before the walls of her house collapsed during the tremors.

After reaching the street barefoot, Gul saw the dead bodies of neighbours killed by falling concrete. She remembers the screams of people trapped in collapsed buildings.

Gul said the horror had put a heavy toll on the mental health of survivors who "lost everything" in the city of Antakya, which was devastated by the quakes. She to seek professional help to address the trauma, but for now establishing a new life for herself and her family is the only priority.

The 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes, the most deadly in modern Türkiye's history, will have a deep psychological impact, experts and officials say.

More than 44,300 people died in the country and over 1.5 million were left homeless in freezing conditions. Millions have lost family members, jobs, life savings and their hopes for the future.

More than 5,914 people have been reported dead in neighbouring Syria.

Children at risk

Experts fear children will be hardest hit.

The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said many of the more than 5.4 million children who live across the quake zone were at risk of developing anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

"We know how important learning and routine is for children and their recovery," UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Afshan Khan said, after a visit to Türkiye.

"They need to be able to resume their education, and they urgently need psychosocial support to help deal with the trauma they have experienced."

At a large camp for displaced people next to Hatay Stadium on the outskirts of Antakya, psychosocial support teams, including government staff and volunteers, have set up small play areas and pitched tents filled with toys.

Children sat on multicoloured chairs in front of a large portable screen that played cartoons. Some children played hopscotch.

Mehmet Sari, a government psychosocial support worker, said he and others in his team have picked up signs of trauma in kids.

"We see that some children can't sleep, others can't eat, others have flashbacks and wet their beds," he told Reuters news agency.

They need long-term support to recover from trauma, he said.

Government support

Türkiye's Ministry of Family and Social Services said it has dispatched more than 3,700 social workers to support the survivors across the quake zone.

NGOs along with Volunteers from across Türkiye run activities for children living in tents at a shelter in earthquake hit provinces.

But a large 6.4 magnitude earthquake on February 20 shattered efforts to give the children some feeling of normalcy amid weeks of terrifying after shocks.

Another 5.6 magnitude earthquake also hit the province of Malatya on Monday, February 27.

Ayse Bilge Selcuk, a psychologist and a professor at MEF University, says there is a need to "find that strength within us and that starts with our psychology."

Rebuilding efforts should include mental health, Selcuk said, urging the government to provide funding for trained psychologists to be sent to the quake zone and stay there.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to rebuild homes within a year and extend humanitarian help to those who live in the affected regions.

SOURCE: Reuters