'Time a great healer' for most tsunami survivors
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TSUNAMI SURVIVORS' mental problems reduced significantly within four years after the deadly disaster hit Thailand's Andaman coast a decade ago.
However, a study on intelligence quotients among children in hard-hit zones who were aged three and under at the time of the tsunami showed that many had lower-than-average IQ.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the devastating waves that claimed more than 5,000 lives in the country on December 26, 2004.
Mental Health Department director-general Dr Jedsada Chokdam-rongsuk said that in collaboration with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Public Health Ministry had conducted surveys among tsunami survivors in February 2005, September 2005, and February 2008.
Fewer depressed
The findings revealed that the proportions of those suffering from depression were 30 per cent in the first survey, but dropped to 15 per cent in the second and to 13 per cent by 2008.
According to the findings, the proportion of those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder also came down from 12 per cent at the start to 4.7 per cent in the second survey and just 2.7 per cent in February 2008.
Jedsada said the Public Health Ministry had stepped in to take care of tsunami victims’ physical and mental health from the very beginning.
“We have taken proactive measures in rehabilitating 18,509 victims in six tsunami-hit provinces, namely Ranong, Phang Nga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun,” he said.
He added that the services had continued until the present in Phang Nga province, which was hit the hardest.
Panpimol Wipulakorn, deputy director-general of the Mental Health Department, said encouraging victims to play a role in rebuilding their home-towns in the wake of the crisis was a key approach in their rehabilitation.
According to a 2012 study on IQs of children in tsunami-hit Phang Nga, Krabi and Phuket, at least one-third of children who were no more than three years old at the time of the disaster had IQs ranging between 70 and 90. An IQ of 100 is considered average.
