JP/5/MENTAL

JP/5/MENTAL

Aceh faces chronic mental health problems after tsunami

Nani Afrida
The Jakarta Post/Banda Aceh

Thirty-four-year-old Maisarah Muharram M. Noer can still remember
when she was brought to a psychiatrist several weeks after the
tsunami, screaming her lungs out with an intravenous drip in her
arm. "Everything was instantaneous. I thought I had gone insane,"
she told The Jakarta Post.

Maisarah survived the tsunami after successfully fighting the
treacherous currents. The remains of her husband and three young
children have yet to be found and possibly never will be. She is
now alone and suffering from severe trauma.

While her wounds have healed, she remains mentally affected.
Frequent memory blanks mean Maisarah often has difficulty
recognizing simple words. But it's better than before, she says,
when was frequently spooked by the sounds of helicopters and
wailing sirens while being treated in hospital.

"They sound like an approaching tsunami. I usually screamed as
hard as I could if I heard those sounds," she said.

Her family brings her to the psychiatrist regularly. "I'm
better now, but I'll still scream if there's a quake," said
Maisarah.

A resident of Linke village, Banda Aceh Abdul Munar, 24, also
survived the tsunami after being swept two kilometers inland. He
lost his elder brother and his fiancee. Like Maisarah, Munar also
has experienced deep trauma. He still sleeps by the door of his
house for a quick escape. "I can run outside easily in case of a
quake," he said.

Munar may be able to forget about the waves but the
aftershocks still rattle him.

The Acehnese are still feeling the effect of the tsunami five
months after it struck the area on Dec. 26 last year.

The World Health Organization (WHO), in a joint effort with
the University of Indonesia (UI), had conducted a study on the
mental health conditions of tsunami survivors in Aceh and Nias.
The survey involved 1,600 survivors, 730 of them children.

According to the survey, children are better at coping with
the trauma than adults. Dr. Irmansyah, from UI's psychiatry
school said that 20 to 25 percent of the children had experienced
significant emotional and behavioral problems during the post-
tsunami period.

Irmansyah said the good news was that most of the children
were showing improving signs of positive social interaction.

"Some of the adult survivors, however, have suffered a higher
degree of post-traumatic stress."

WHO will focus on the mental health conditions of tsunami
survivors by establishing a health care center in Aceh in the
near future.

"Many developing countries hit by the tsunami pay less
attention to mental health because they are more focussed on
relief aid at the moment," said Mark van Ommersen, a technical
expert from WHO's Mental Health and Substantial Violence
Department. WHO will also train community leaders as well as 700
hospital staff in Banda Aceh to assist them to help traumatized
survivors, "so that they will be better prepared to serve the
community," Ommeren said.

Besides being affected by the tsunami, many people in Aceh
have suffered mentally from the ongoing separatist conflict. The
latest survey conducted by the Aceh Health Office indicated that
40 percent of Acehnese are psychologically troubled as a result
of the conflict.

The combination of tsunami, earthquake and conflict trauma,
means it is predicted the number of mentally distressed people
will increase significantly in the post-tsunami period.