by Vanessa Cort
WHILE all around her were dead, a newborn baby was found, still connected to her mother’s umbilical cord, beneath the rubble in earthquake-ravaged Turkey last week.

Her survival was a singular beacon of hope as the death toll rose (now upwards of 24,000) and those gathered around cheered, still waiting anxiously for news of relatives and friends thought to be trapped under the concrete mounds of collapsed buildings.

Tears and moans of overwhelming grief were sometimes drowned out by shrieks of joy when someone was pulled to safety, or silence fell if a sound was heard and rescuers tried to locate the person crying for help.

This earthquake, the worst since the one in Japan in 2011, has also affected neighbouring Syria, but its epicentre is in Turkey, which has suffered the greatest devastation and loss of life.

And folks had little opportunity to help themselves or try to escape as the earthquake struck in the early hours of last Monday morning while most residents were still asleep.

First responders and citizens alike have joined forces to search the daunting piles of debris for survivors, while others watched on in a hapless daze, trying to process the scope of the disaster.

Those who were more fortunate and unaffected by the earthquake have been rushing to provide aid to their unfortunate countrymen in the form of food, clothing, medical and other supplies, while international aid agencies have been flying in supplies.

And Syrians, already severely affected by the recent war on ISIS, are once more fleeing their country in the wake of this disaster, which has left a trail of death and destruction.

A burning question in the minds of many following this disaster, is how it will affect the mental health of those left behind and the communities as a whole.

Interviews with people on site, some of whom have lost their entire families, reveal that they are still in shock and unable to ‘come to grips’ with both the magnitude and the suddenness of the earthquake, which was followed by several aftershocks.

The Sciencing Group says that the impact of a disaster can be felt physically, emotionally and mentally and the loss of property and financial resources can cause massive migration in lesser developed countries, as is happening in Syria.

On the individual level natural disasters can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the One Lightly Charity group pinpoints this as feelings of “shock and fear (for the safety of family and friends or of a similar disaster happening again). Other emotions of anger, helplessness and sadness are also prevalent.” Some also blame themselves for being ill-prepared, while others feel shame at their poor response.

According to the National Center for PTSD, run by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, disasters which occur in developing countries may have a more severe mental health impact than in developed countries and this is true even of less serious events.

There are myriad reasons for this but primarily it is a result of the country’s unpreparedness to deal with the disaster coupled with the need to depend largely on outside sources for assistance.

Communities which experience a natural disaster are faced with the loss of economic resources, the destruction of utilities such as water and electricity supply and the massive task of rebuilding all that has been destroyed. In many cases, recovery becomes difficult if not impossible and in all cases the process is lengthy and fraught with difficulties.

In the case of this earthquake, affecting south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria, the United Nations has stated that only five percent of the area is covered by search-and-rescue teams and warned of a larger humanitarian crisis.

Thousands who have been displaced are in dire need of shelter as well as food and potable water and the likelihood of disease has escalated primarily as a result of water contamination.

However, on a note of hope the National Center for PTSD says this: “Keep in mind that while millions of people have been directly affected by disaster, most of them do recover”.

This is a tribute to human resilience and our indomitable spirit, already manifesting in the people of Syria and Turkey as they lend each other support in the face of this enormous tragedy.