Emotional distress and posttraumatic stress in children surviving the 2004 tsunami

The Akkaraipettai village of the Nagapatinam district of Tamilnadu, India, was one of the areas most affected by the tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004. This study was conducted to assess the psychological effect of the tsunami on adolescents. The impact of the trauma was both measured and examined from a cultural perspective. The Impact of Event Scale, (IES), the Children's Revised Impact of Event Scale, (CRIES), and the Pediatric Emotional Distress Scale ( PEDS) were administered to 130 subjects (69 boys and 61 girls). Results showed that the children measured high on posttraumatic stress and all three factors of the PEDS. Further, a sex difference was recorded, with females exhibiting more likelihood of trauma than males. Loss of family members significantly determined all of the factors of the IES and CRIES except intrusion.