UPF Inverno 2011

Tsunami trauma stalks Japanese children

The horror of Japan\\'s tsunami has raised concerns

over the long-term impact on children, some of whom are

already displaying signs of trauma, _______ screaming

nightmares _______ silent withdrawal.

About 100,000 children were displaced by what has

become Japan\\'s worst natural disaster since 1923, with

nearly 20,000 people dead or missing, according to the

charity Save the Children,

The potential for lasting trauma is compounded by the

unusual multiple nature of the event: a massive 9.0-

magnitude earthquake, a devastating tsunami and a

nationwide scare over a possible meltdown at a nuclear

plant.

Experts say the scale of the loss and disruption for

some children would have been almost inconceivable:

homes destroyed, friends disappeared, one or both

parents maybe killed, or siblings and other close family

members missing.

Initial efforts to help children come to terms with the

multiple disasters can only be made in extremely stressful

circumstances, with families packed into ill-equipped

evacuation shelters, suffering bitterly cold nights and

frequent terrifying aftershocks.

\\'We found children in desperate conditions, huddling

around kerosene lamps and wrapped in blankets,\\' said

Save the Children spokesman Ian Woolverton, who

visited several evacuation centres in the coastal regions

of northeast Japan that bore the brunt of the March 11

tsunami.

\\'They told me about their anxieties, especially their

fears about radiation,\\' Woolverton said, adding that

several youngsters had mentioned the atomic attacks on

Hiroshima and Nagasaki which they know about from

school books.

Retirado e adaptado de: http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=591131&vId=22 63945, em 20/03/2011