A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria early Monday morning, 6 February 2023. By Wednesday 1 March, three weeks later, more than 50,000 people have been confirmed dead, and tens of thousands more injured.
The quake, with the epicenter 23 kilometres east of Nurdagi, in Turkey’s Gaziantep province, is one of the strongest to hit the region in more than 100 years. Multiple strong aftershocks have been felt across the region for hours after the first quake, including a severe quake measuring magnitude 7.5.
On Monday 27 February another earthquake (5.6 in magnitude) took place. While continued earthquakes and aftershocks were expected, this constant shaking has a significant emotional and physical effect on those living and serving in the region. The long-term effects are unquantifiable.
A study after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China revealed that the occurrence of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) for earthquake victims with physical disabilities 10 years after the earthquake was 42.21%. Participation and engagement in daily life and community activities was negatively connected with PTSD.
The research was done amongst 308 earthquake victims who suffered from physical disabilities resulting from the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008. They were recruited from three hospitals in Sichuan to participate in a 10-year cross-sectional survey. The conclusions revealed that apart from physical disabilities, the earthquake also posed a threat to people's mental health, and that health threat has had a direct and negative impact on the quality of life of the victims.
As believers our hearts go out the people of Syria and Turkey, but because we fail to fully comprehend the impact on the psyche of those who witnessed the earthquake, we lack the ability to understand the deep trauma that people are facing as a result of what they had to live through. We often see the damage to buildings and the loss of life as the full spectrum of suffering while we forget about the psychological and emotional scars that the survivors need to grapple with.
If we want to effectively pray and share in the suffering of the people of Syria and Turkey, we need to understand that one of the after-effects of the earthquake will be PTSD that could last for generations to come. This is an unavoidable aftereffect for many, maybe most, of those effected by the earthquake and the many aftershocks and smaller earthquakes that followed.
What is PTSD?
Tania Coetzee, in her article PTSD , gives the following definition: “The emotional and psychological reaction to any event experienced by a person who considers this event as traumatic or life threatening, either to self or as witnessed by the person which causes the person to change in thinking patterns and then behaviour, and interaction with others and the world around that person.”
In the case of those effected by the earthquake, extreme loss of life, possessions and society disintegrating is the obvious cause of the trauma. The fact that there were recurring quakes that caused many to even sleep on the streets in severe weather conditions only aggravated the trauma, fear and stress.
Onset of symptoms of PTSD can start weeks, months, or years after the traumatic event/s. The symptoms can include things like anxiety, fear, insomnia, cold distant emotionally to block painful emotions, constant alertness, rage, irritation, avoidance of realties, withdrawal, self-hate, flashbacks to
traumatic event, smells, sounds, survivors
guilt, etc. These are but a few of the possible ways individuals and families
and the society can be affected because of the trauma experienced.[1]
How can we pray for Syria and Turkey?
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212420922004447
https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/what/ptsd_basics.asp
https://www.forwardwithhope.co.za
https://grace-fellowship-international.myshopify.com/products/conquering-ptsd
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