Townspeople still jittery over quakes<\/p>\n
Ati Nurbaiti, The Jakarta Post, Meulaboh<\/p>\n
The wind is blowing in a strange way. Look at the water -- it's
\nquivering. And the clouds are of a strange shape and color. And
\ndid you feel a quake just now?<\/p>\n
Such are the snatches of conversation in various parts of the
\ntown. It seems what is needed is both an early warning system --
\ninstead of separate analyses by each and every jittery person --
\nand also a crash course in trauma healing for all parties working
\nwith the young and old here, and those assisting authorities. The
\ntrouble is -- you need all that at the same time and preferably
\nright now.<\/p>\n
With all the regional and international conferences on early
\nwarning systems and various organizations involving
\npsychologists, psychiatrists, consultants and scientologists,
\nmeeting that challenge may not be impossible. In any case it's
\nevidently urgent.<\/p>\n
As townspeople in this town on Aceh's west coast continue to
\ntry to rebuild their lives, like other Acehnese and those in
\nNorth Sumatra they scrambled to save their skin and loved ones
\nall over again at the time of the Nias quake on March 28.<\/p>\n
Experts predict other quakes along Sumatra, with no guarantee
\nthat people need not fear a tsunami until the next 500 years or
\nso.<\/p>\n
In a community health center downtown, a translator for the
\nFrench medics says they are seeing half the number of usual
\npatients. One work day saw a truckload of villagers eager to meet
\nthe new, foreign doctors while on Thursday there were only about
\n50. She says locals were mindful of earthquakes predicted on Apr.
\n4 to Apr. 7, but no major tremor was felt.<\/p>\n
Healing and helping entire communities and their different
\nmembers after a rare event of entire towns and villages wiped
\nout, amid the probability that it may happen again, is a field
\nthat few are familiar with, and many are just doing what they
\ncan. Many parties who have been working with the locals here
\nsince the tsunami are either trying to fill in the gaps, like
\nteaching, or creating initiatives.<\/p>\n
The French medics working at the local community health
\ncenter, for instance, spread out sheets of drawing paper and
\ncolored pens, so youngsters can draw while waiting with their
\nparents. Their work is then displayed on the outside wall of the
\nbuilding, the sketches bright and pretty. But even until a few
\nweeks ago, one of the doctors, Sibylle Bevilacqua, said a little
\ngirl asked for a black pen, as she needed to draw the dark, giant
\nwaves that ate up the whole town.<\/p>\n
And the most complaints reported to the health center?
\nHeadaches, gastric problems, apart from skin problems, and also
\nhypertension, says Bevilacqua, who with the rest of her team
\nsigned up with the Red Cross in their country.<\/p>\n
\"Surprisingly,\" she adds, \"people here will acknowledge that
\nthey have post-tsunami syndrome.\" And with that she can advise
\npatients to first consult a psychologist before administering any
\ndrugs.<\/p>\n
Like her, her colleagues have been in tragedy-hit countries
\nbefore -- whether it's war, famine or a hurricane. There is
\nsomething in common -- the contrite features, \"the sadness\",\"
\nsays pediatrician Sylvie Cavare-Viqneron, who has worked among
\nothers in the former Yugoslavian states.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the openness to acknowledge the need for mental help
\nis thanks to the earlier teams of medics and psychologists, among
\nothers from the Medecins Sans Frontiers, who are among the
\nhundreds of organizations assisting survivors.<\/p>\n
With the young, things are more complicated. They just go
\ngaily about their play or studies like the broadcasters at the
\nRadio Matahari, a new radio station.<\/p>\n
This is another notable initiative, involving teenagers who
\nlive in the Muhammadiyah orphanage here. It began with the
\nJakarta-based Radio 68H, whose director Santoso aimed to fill in
\nthe information gap through a community radio. The leaders of the
\nMuhammadiyah organization here appointed the orphanage to run the
\nstation, as a measure to help them learn to be self-sufficient
\nand also to help overcome trauma.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the volunteers among the teachers who have been
\nworking here since December, are still trying to figure out
\nwhether it is the tsunami contributing to slow students'
\nresponse, or whether it is the result of education in Nanggroe
\nAceh Darussalam, for years a conflict zone.<\/p>\n
\"There doesn't seem to be a drive here,\" says Poppy Mutia from
\nWest Java. \"I've taught really bad schools in Bandung and this is
\nworse, as if there's no need for competition, for achievement.\"<\/p>\n
The volunteers have been here since January and are committed
\nuntil July. Unlike a number of male colleagues they have stuck
\nthrough thick and thin in the sticky heat, even if the orphanage
\nwhere they are staying is still under renovation with dust flying
\naround their mattresses and cooking utensils.<\/p>\n
\"This is the consequence of our choice,\" says a cheerful
\nteacher of English, Wiwit Barokah. What they need most is for
\nchildren to stay in class, and not have their parents coming to
\npick them up each time there's a rumor of a quake or the tide
\nrising.<\/p>\n
\"Just imagine,\" says Ana Basirah, another volunteer from
\nYogyakarta who teaches math. \"One child points to a dark cloud
\nand everyone's shouting 'It's doomsday!' and the entire class
\npick up their bags and rush out. Doomsday indeed!\"<\/p>",
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