Injured Children's Emotional Trauma

Wang Sifang, 12, lost 18 classmates in the May 12th earthquake.

Photo by Xiaoyu Xie.

Earlier this week, I visited a major Sichuan hospital.

There I met a few quake survivors, all of them young and in rough shape physically and especially emotionally.

One of them was Wang Sifang. He's a twelve-year-old boy from Shifang Jiandi Zhongxin Elementary School who survived the collapse of his school. Of fifty-three students in his sixth grade class, eighteen were crushed to death. Wang suffers from a broken leg and multiple fractures.

His father told me the boy lost his best friend, and now behaves strangely.

"He gets very agitated and upset when he is hurting from his wound." his dad told me. "Whenever there's an aftershock, he cries and shakes and keeps saying that he doesn't want to stay in the hospital and wants to go home."

Chen Keru, 10, has head injuries

Photo by Xiaoyu Xie.

Down the hall, I also met ten-year-old Chen Keru. Despite the horror she experienced she gave me a big smile. Her fourth grade class was on the third floor when her school collapsed. Two-thirds of her classmates died on May 12th. In addition to multiple fractures, she suffered head injuries during the rescue effort.

Her mother was also killed in the quake. But no one has wanted to break the news to her. Not yet.

Like Wang Sifang, she is prone to anger and panic attacks.

No Psychologist Has Come

Even though they have been through so much, Wang and Chen had only one visit from a psychologist. Their parents were given advice on how to cope with behavioral problems.

From what I've heard and seen, there must be thousands of children severely traumatized by the earthquake. While their physical recovery is underway, they don't yet have regular psychological help from professionals.

The lives of Wang Sifang and Chen Keru will never be the same. Until they get further help, they won't be able to return to the childhood they knew.

- - Xiaoyu Xie

12:00 PM ET | 06- 4-2008 | permalink