Jan 5, 05 7:09pm While Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives are starting up efforts to rehabilitate survivors of the tsunami, disaster-relief authorities in Malaysia have all but closed their files on the worst natural disaster to hit the country.
But one psychologist has urged the government to keep the files open because the horrors will haunt and affect children as well as adults for many years, unless professional help is extended to them to accept what has happened and to move on with their lives.
Dr Abdul Rahman Ahmad, a psychology lecturer volunteering with the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (Abim), said five Kedah social welfare officers are stationed at two evacuation centres in Kota Kuala Muda district to co-ordinate relief work and counselling sessions. However, they are due to leave by the end of this week. When they do, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will be left to continue with the task of counselling and psychological rehabilitation, Abdul Rahman said when contacted.
�The government recognises the trauma, but there is no effort to extend help. It does not seem to look at this as a major problem. That�s why the NGOs have taken this initiative,� he said.
�Women and children are still afraid of the sound of waves and fear that the (evacuation) buildings will collapse on them. The women, in particular, need counselling because they are still afraid for their families and cannot accept the destruction.�
Abdul Rahman predicted that there will be a need to �monitor the problems� for at least three months and that NGOs will need to remain at least a year in Kampung Haji Kudong in Kota Kuala Muda, to conduct counselling programmes.
Given the seriousness of the psychological problems caused by the disaster and the cost of maintaining such programmes, Abdul Rahman called on the Kedah social welfare department to fulfill its responsibilities by continuing its support of, and co-operation with, the NGOs.
�The department should have a long-term assistance programme. The problems we�re dealing with will require long-term help,� he noted.
Insensitive directive
Roslan Ali, a volunteer with Malay-based NGO Teras, said he knows of many men, women and children who react when anything reminds them of the tsunami waves of Dec 26. �Some tremble, others shout suddenly. When the adults exhibit such fears, the children soon follow and the reaction spreads to others in the group,� he said.
Roslan also recounted an incident when state health
ministry officials who arrived to fog an evacuation centre, as part of an anti-dengue operation, unwittingly triggered widespread panic by sounding the siren and shouting at the evacuees to �get out now�.
�The order given over megaphones were reminiscent of the orders two weeks ago on the beach to �get out� of houses and villages, and memories of the tsunami waves flooded back into the minds of the evacuees,� he said.
�They just started to run out in panic thinking they would be drowned, although the evacuation centre is more than two kilometers from the coast.�
Akasha Ismail, who heads youth environmental group Akitivis Remaja Alam Sekitar, related the case of a woman who was traumatised by the sight and experience of five-metre high waves crashing down on her house.
�Now, even though she�s kilometres away from any body of water, she screams whenever the door opens in the school building where she is housed. She shouts for all doors to be shut,� he
added. Aid workers in other affected countries are reporting similar reactions from survivors of the disaster, many of whom are still in shock.
Agencies like the World Health Organisation and the International Red Cross Committee are sending professional counsellors to relief centres to see survivors through their harrowing experiences.
The Dec 26 tragedy claimed the lives of 68 Malaysians and some 155,000 in coastal areas around the Indian Ocean. Among those injured are 299 Malaysians.
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