PSYCHOSOCIAL IMPACT OF OCTOBER 2005 EARTHQUAKE ON CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

ABSTRACT

Background: Children being the vulnerable population of any community usually take the brunt of trauma. Bagh was one of the severely hit areas of the October 2005 earthquake, almost all the school buildings were destroyed and a large number of children lost their lives during the disaster.

Aim: To compare the psychological and psychosocial impact of October 2005 earthquake on children and adolescents of Bagh and surrounding areas of Azad Jammu Kashmir with age, social class and gender matched unaffected controls from Rawalpindi.

Methods: This was a case control study of children and adolescents aged 10-18 years belonging to Bagh, AJK (n= 128) compared with controls (n= 172) to assess the impact of a natural disaster on psychological and psychosocial state of these children, using psychometric tools including Impact of Event Scale (IES), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Kiddie-SADS Present and Lifetime (K-SADS PL) version 1.0.

Results: There were 128 cases and 172 controls. The mean age of cases was  11 years and they showed  significantly high (p= 0.003) levels of psychological impact of the disaster (49.2%) as compared to the controls (12.8%). They also showed more difficulties in coping with life (mean SDQ= 18) as compared to the controls (mean SDQ= 21), the difference again being significant (p= 0.005). Posttraumatic Stress Disorder was 8.6% in the exposed population and 1.2% in controls (p value of 0.001).

Conclusions: Children and adolescents of earthquake affected area showed a substantial immediate and long term psychological and social impact of the October 2005 earthquake. There is need for developing mental health services in the earthquake affected areas.