In the News:

Source: Edinburgh Evening News, January 25, 2010

Quake children's trauma help

By Laura Cummings

CHARITY staff trained in psychosocial treatment have arrived in Haiti to help child survivors of the earthquake overcome their trauma.

Around a dozen staff members from Mercy Corps reached in Haiti on Saturday to provide post-disaster help to Haitian children using Comfort for Kids, a methodology which combines a psychosocial training workshop for adults with an interactive workbook that helps children tell their story of the disaster. It will help up to 100,000 young earthquake survivors.

Executive director at Mercy Corps' European HQ in Edinburgh, Mervyn Lee, said: "Children in the earthquake zone are in desperate need of emotional help. They have lost parents, friends and homes. Their worlds have fallen apart. Unlike adults, children do not have the experience or judgement to process that kind of trauma by themselves."

Mr Lee warned that children could be affected by depression, aggression and other long-term problems if the "emotional scars" of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that rocked Haiti earlier this month are left untreated. As part of the programme, children will also receive "comfort kits", containing soothing items such as blankets, stuffed animals and books.

The specially-trained staff will train local parents, teachers and doctors in Haiti, among others, to talk to children about the disaster and address difficult questions concerning death and grieving. They hope to start training, which will be conducted in both French and Creole, early in February.

Mr Lee added: "The sooner we can start the better. Helping children now promotes short-term recovery, and will allow these children to be part of Haiti's future."

Comfort for Kids was first developed by Mercy Corps and Bright Horizons – a global workplace childcare provider – after 9/11, to help the emotional recovery of children in New York City.

It has subsequently assisted thousands of children in post- disaster environments, including the severe earthquake in China's Sichuan province in 2008.

On Thursday, Mercy Corps delivered three days' worth of high-energy biscuits to 900 patients, families and staff at Port-au-Prince's largest hospital, General Hospital.

Mercy Corps emergency responder, Carol Ward, said: "People were relieved and happy to see us. Hospital officials told us they've been very short on food. The people who received the biscuit package immediately started eating – you could tell they were hungry."

The aid agency's team plans to return to the hospital in the coming days to deliver food such as rice, beans and oil that could be cooked on site if the kitchens are functional, or can be repaired.