Wednesday, January 12 2005 11:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Cuddalore: They lost their siblings and peers in the tsunami waves. Psychologists and counsellors treating them find it difficult to get them out of their numb shock of the Boxing Day tragedy because they cannot communicate.

They are children between two and five years whom doctors find particularly difficult to treat.

Having seen the tidal waves wash away their near and dear ones in front of their eyes, these little children cannot express into words their insecurities, counsellors working in this district said.

"A little girl of four years is admitted in Government Headquarters Hospital in Cuddalore since the day tsunami struck. She is numb with shock and running a high temperature," a psychiatrist with the hospital, Dr V Sabitha, said.

"She is not talking even with her parents and on any approach from the doctors or strangers going into hysteria. She is too small to speak out her fears," she said.

Three similar cases from an affected fishing village Samiarpettai have also been admitted at the hospital.

"The age group of two to five years is very difficult to treat since they are too young to cope with the mental trauma of the disaster and at the same time shy to talk to anyone but their mothers," Sabitha said.

The age group of five to eight years have borne the brunt of the tsunami better, she said. "They are slowly coming out of trauma, but since their mental faculty is more developed from the toddlers, they are more cheerful now and talk of life after the worst phase is over," she said.

"At the counselling sessions they keep talking about the dead bodies that they have seen returning to shore, the bloated corpses haunt them. Since their fishermen fathers would stay out all night and morning and mothers would also spend the day selling the fish in the markets, they had only their siblings to give them company," Savitha said.

"Loss of a sibling has hit badly."

However the counsellors have suggested to the parents at the camps to send their children to schools, which have already opened. "This might divert their mind," she said.

"At the various relief camps and tsunami-damaged villages older children have already gotten over their trauma and with the help of the NGOs who are holding classes for them, they are ready to get back to normal life of games and studying," Joint Director of Health Services Dr N Soundaram said. Five teams of psychiatrists are working in the district with voluntary organisations, two teams from the Mental Health Institute, Chennai and one team from the National Institute of the Mentally Handicapped (NIMH), Secundrabad, Soundaram said adding that 500 people have been counselled so far.

Teams of psychiatrists are holding classes at the camps for children of all age groups. "The children are made to recite poetry, sing songs or draw and enjoy whatever recreation they prefer," a health officer at the Killai camp said.

"The children are picking up all sorts of rumours at the camps where there is a steady stream of visitors whole day and this is also affecting their mental peace," counsellor Kingsley Samuel of NIMH said.