Guilt, insomnia will haunt quake survivors, say experts

For some, the guilt and remorse have proved overwhelming. Already, one suicide has been recorded: Wang Chao-wen, 36, hanged himself in central Taichung city Friday night. In a letter he left behind, Wang said death was the only way to show his regret for not being able to take better care of his mother, one of the 2,000 people killed in Tuesday’s 7.6-Richter-scale quake. A fear of the indoors has also affected many: more than 7,500aftershocks hit the island since Tuesday, including another major tremor measuring 5.2 at noon on Monday. Many of the more than 100,000 refugees living in the open across Taiwan say they would not return home even if their homes were declared safe.

Every night at Nantou city hospital, parents place 13 new-born babies in a van outside the building to sleep. And in Puli, which suffered 98 per cent structural damage, whole wards of terrified patients wounded in building collapses have been moved to huge tents. Hsiao Shu-jeu, Fu Jen’s deputy medical school director said survivors would continually replay Tuesday’s earthquake in their minds for weeks. She said there were three main ways in which Post Traumatic Stress Disorder manifested itself. “People will find themselves suddenly feeling guilty for living,” she said, experiencing shock and panic, sudden fits of anger and depression. Another symptom would be withdrawal from family and friends, she said, warning some would seek solace in alcohol and drugs.Still others would become “paranoid, hyper-tense, agitated, sleepless,” a state that could continue for months.

Taiwan faced a particular cultural difficulty, Hsiao added, as seeking outside help was often considered a shameful sign of weakness. Kikuo Uchiyama, a psychiatrist at Japan’s Tsukuba University who treated survivors of Kobe’s deadly 1995 quake, said: “We saw a lot of victims suffering the disorder. They tend to see flashbacks and suffer from spasms. Counselling is a major remedy. It takes a long time to regain mental stability.” Chen added certain groups were particularly vulnerable.

“We must pay more attention to the mental state of children, elders, patients and mentally disabled people,” she said. She encouraged friends and relatives of sufferers to stay with them at all times, reassuring them constantly.