Psychosocial impact of October 2005 earthquake on children and adolescents aged 9 to 18 years, assessed after one year in Kashmir, Pakistan

On 8 October 2005, an earthquake of 7.6 magnitude hit Pakistan leaving about 75,000 dead and thousands homeless. Worst damage was in the territory of Kashmir. Children exposed to a natural disaster can develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress symptoms and disorder whose prevalence, associated symptoms and vulnerability varies from population to population. To asses post-traumatic stress symptoms and disorder, associated other symptoms and trauma related risk factors in children and adolescents one year after the earthquake. This is a comparative study to assess post traumatic stress disorder in children who faced the disasters of earthquake and comparisons were made with same age and gender children who faced the earthquake but did not face the disaster. The psychometric tools included Impact of Event Scale, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and post-traumatic stress symptoms and disorder part of Kiddie-SADS Present and Lifetime [K-SADS PL] version 1.0. The mean age of cases was 11 years and they showed significantly high [p=0.03] levels of psychological impact of the disaster [49.2%] as compared to the controls [12.8%]. They also showed more difficulties in coping with life [mean SDQ=18] as compared to the controls [mean Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire = 21]. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder was 8.6% in the exposed group and 1.2% in control group. A considerable proportion of children and adolescents exhibited difficulties as post-traumatic symptoms, and 8.6% had the psychological disorders. Policy message: Health care providers should be aware that children and adolescents need psychological evaluation and therapy in post disaster situations