Mental health South Asia earthquake
What happens in an emergency in terms of mental health?
After the recent earthquake, large segments of the population face major social and emotional challenges in coping with the events and with an uncertain future. Mental health and psychosocial support needs to be made available through number of sectors to protect and enhance psychosocial well-being and/or to prevent and treat severe mental disorders.
Mental Health and Psychosocial Support: Information for Health Workers in Kashmir Full text.
The target group for WHO work on mental health in emergencies is any population exposed to extreme stressors, such as refugees, internally displaced persons, disaster survivors and terrorism-, war- or genocide-exposed populations. The WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse recognises that the number of persons exposed to extreme stressors is large and that exposure to extreme stressors is a risk factor for mental health and social problems. The Department’s work on mental health in emergencies focuses mostly on resource-poor countries, where most populations exposed to disasters and war live.