About seven million children would face mental health challenges in the coming years because of the aftershock of the last week’s devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Save the Childrenquoting psychologists said that children showed signs of acute distress including nightmares, aggression, or being withdrawn.
Around 23 million people have been impacted by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, including at least seven million children, many of whom have witnessed their friends and family members die before their eyes. Others have been buried under the rubble of their collapsed homes. Many now still don’t have anywhere safe to go.
THE IMPACT
Save the Children said that children who experienced extremely distressing events or repeated stress are more likely to have long-lasting impacts for months or even years to come unless more mental health and psychosocial support is urgently provided alongside humanitarian aid.
Aiida, a phycologist working for Save the Children, said: In these cases, children are at risk of developing mental health difficulties, particularly as there were several events one after another, earthquakes with ongoing aftershocks, with no period for recovery.
“In the long-term, this can impact many aspects of a child life, including difficulties with learning, concentration and school performance. A child who has experienced life-threatening events may remain primarily focused on feeling safe and function in survival mode – what we can also call a flight, fight or freeze response.”
Exposure to prolonged stress can have a devastating effect on children’s mental health and well-being, and lead to what is commonly referred to as ‘toxic stress’ — the most dangerous form of stress a child can experience, the organisation noted.
The organisation quoted Zehra, a mental health officer working for them Turkey, as saying that the emotional impact of the earthquakes is taking a heavy toll on children in the country. The children we’re speaking to are showing signs of aggression, being withdrawn and not speaking much, while some others show the opposite: they want a lot of attention. Parents are also telling us that children are having nightmares.”
In Antakya, Hatay, and remote villages hard hit in Turkey, Save the Children teams have set up child friendly activities for children aged five to 12, so they have a safe place to play, learn and express their grief and loss.
“During a psychosocial support activity, two children drew images of dead bodies. It’s a common reaction after an event like this,” said Zehra. “Drawings are the children’s language, their way of talking and expressing how they feel, and to process what has happened to them. That’s why it’s crucial to scale up the response, and open more child friendly spaces so all children have access to these types of activities.”
MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS
Even before the earth quake, mental health needs in Syria were already significant because of the 12 or more years of conflict and economic crisis. The UN data in 2022 showed that nearly half of all children surveyed were showing signs of psychological distress, and 26% of households reported the reason their children did not want to go to school was because they felt depressed, unhappy or lacked motivation.
The escalating mental health concerns fuelled by the earthquakes are not only being felt in Syria and Türkiye. In Lebanon, shockwaves from the earthquakes triggered harrowing memories of the Beirut port explosion in 2020, which killed at least 218 people and injured over 7,000.
Children severely affected by the Beirut Blast are more likely to be impacted by the earthquake and aftershocks, explained Aiida.
“Even the small details of the earthquake were triggers – seeing items shake or be knocked from shelves, this is what happened during the Beirut explosion,” she said. “We have seen similar cases of this. For example, children who link the sounds of thunder and lightning to the sound of the blast, which could be an indication of lasting impacts.”
The fact that the earthquakes and shockwaves took place when people were in their homes at night increased their sense of fear. Many families around Lebanon opted to sleep in cars as they did not feel safe at home or fled to mountains in fear of a tsunami.
For young children, increased clinginess and anxiety upon separation is being observed, with children needing to sleep next to their caregivers at night and stay next to them during the day. Overexposure to distressing news and images circulating through social media is also playing a role in children’s stress levels especially among teenagers.
Compounding the heightened need for mental health and psychosocial support is the lack of information available to the caregivers on how to deal with this situation.
SAVE THE CHILDREN TEAM
Save the Children’s mental health and psychosocial support teams in Lebanon, Syria and Turkey are working together to share hands-on experience to ensure children get access to the support they need. In all three countries, Save the Children has developed messaging for caregivers, teachers, and frontline workers on how to support children who have experienced distressing events and how to talk to them about it.
In close collaboration with the local government in Turkey and through local partners in Syria, Save the Children is setting up child-friendly spaces and child-focused psychosocial support activities in parallel with life-saving assistance to children and families.
With the right help, most children psychologically impacted by the earthquakes will eventually be able to recover. But without urgent attention to mental health and psychosocial support during the earthquake response, a generation of children in the region is at risk of being left with long-term negative impacts.
