Two major earthquakes hit the Indonesian island of Sumatra on 12 and 13 September 2007. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) sent an emergency team to the affected area to distribute relief items and to provide psychosocial support to the survivors.
Elina Pelekanou from MSF Greece recently returned from the Mental Health Emergency project set up by MSF in Sumatra just after the earthquake. She shares the experience of her trip.
- © Elina Pelekanou/MSF
The MSF psychologist team provided information and support on counseling services to the doctors in the local clinics of Lunang.
What did you see when you first arrived there?
I arrived two weeks after the earthquake. By that time, medical and humanitarian aid had already been offered and there were not many people with medical problems caused directly from the earthquake. There were a lot of ruined houses with tents right next to them where people used to live. There were also intact houses whose inhabitants were too afraid to stay inside in case another earthquake struck. So they used tents instead.
What was your first impression of the people?
Overall, how did people deal with all this? Would you say they had some inner strength that helped them cope with the situation?
Generally speaking, in situations like that, social bonds are very important. People who are isolated encounter more problems compared to those who have strong relations with friends, family and neighbours and who are more socially active. In this specific society, religion also played a major role. People saw the earthquake as the will of Allah, for which they could do nothing about but to move on with their lives. In the area of Lunang, especially, there were cases where preachers taught relaxation techniques and offered psychological support to the citizens.
The earthquake also coincided with the end of Ramadan which proved very timely since traditionally people gather together in houses and cook, eat and have fun. There were of course people who saw those celebrations as an extra source of anxiety because of additional expenditure. There was also a case when a person claimed that his village was hit instead of the next one as an Allah’s punishment.
Were there any other humanitarian agents offering psychological support in the area?
In Muko-Muko, only MSF implemented a psychological support project. In Lunang there was also a local initiative from psychology students from the University of Pantang and from religious leaders of the area.
What are the steps that you follow for the psychological training of the suffering population?
It is an interactive procedure. We are not there to lecture on what an earthquake or a tsunami is. We divide people in separate groups - mothers (with or without their children) and women in general in one group, children in another, medical staff of the area in another, leaders of the community and teachers. When necessary, we also offer personal counseling and conduct private or group interviews.
In each group session we explain basic information about earthquakes and then we discuss with the group their own experiences, how the situation is now and how they plan to put their lives back together.
We also hand out leaflets and inform people on possible psychosomatic symptoms that may arise and how to recognise them, on themselves and their children. For children, we also organise special activities to allow them to express their feelings. We show them how they can best protect themselves from the earthquake and how to coordinate themselves with their parents at the time of an earthquake.
During the interviews and the counselling sessions we talk to the people about their feelings and what is troubling them. We then follow up with them two weeks later to find out how they are doing.
Which are the most common psychosomatic symptoms that you encounter?
Did you come across any serious case?
One of the most serious cases was a man that was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and although his house remained intact, he remained really scared. His relatives said that his situation worsened after the earthquake. He would lie on the floor and say he was paralysed. Although it took two men to carry and transfer him, when we asked him what he would do in case of another earthquake, he insisted that he would get up on his own and run outside.
Another man had lost his wife during the earthquake. He sent three of their children to stay with their grandparents and he himself started to work to raise money. He was working all the time, too many hours, to rebuild his house and get his children back. He didn’t allow himself to stop and mourn for his wife. He got obsessed about rebuilding his house and getting his children back.
These two were the most difficult cases we saw. But in most cases, life seems to win in the end. In the last women group meeting we had in the village Mpoumi Moulia, there was a positive mood, laughing and optimism because of the solidarism between them. Women narrated stories from the panic that dominated at the time of the earthquake. Some stories shared included that of a mother who realised that in her terrified state she had grabbed her baby by the legs and was holding it upside down while she was running. Another one realised that instead of the child she had grabbed a banana and a third one also realised after she ran out of the house that she was not holding her child. Looking back, the women were all laughing at their first reactions after the initial panic.
MSF offered relief supplies and psychological support to communities affected by the earthquake in Sumatra, as well as training local Indonesian medical staff in the region. MSF has worked in Indonesia since 1995.
Adults have diarrhoea, strong headaches, tachycardia (rapid beating of the heart), physical pain, insomnia, over excitation, flash backs. Children on the other hand, have nightmares, cry a lot and want to stay close to their parents. People were very kind and gentle. Even in their state of distress, they were very willing to express their feelings, to talk about what they had experienced and to realise that some people were worse off than they were. Many locals were scared of possible aftershocks and others were easily panicked by the constant rumours of another earthquake.
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