Malaysian flood survivors grappling with psychological aftermath of the disaster

By Mohani Niza

The recent flood in Malaysia was one of the worst in the country’s history, with 200 000 people affected.

Jules Ong, a filmmaker, was in the states Kelantan and Pahang to help out those affected by the flood.

“I was shocked by the devastation. The impact on houses, trees, soil, is that of a massive strong body of water sweeping away anything on its path,” he said.

Ong is an experienced disaster relief volunteer and likened the aftermath of the flood to that of the Aceh tsunami.

Meanwhile, Shahanaaz Habib, a reporter with a local daily, witnessed the resilience of the survivors: one 70-year-old man worked tirelessly from morning till night to clean up the flood-affected areas.

“He does it as a labour of love and very carefully,” Habib said.

Shock and trauma

Insaf Technical Relief Malaysia, a local NGO which adopts a United Nations style of disaster relief was in Kelantan to witness the aftermath.

“It was [like] a land tsunami,” its founder and president Ishak Abdul Kadir said.

As a trained volunteer who’s helped in disasters around the world, he is well aware that a disaster as huge as this could leave psychological scars and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

That is why he dispatched a team of clinical psychologists to Tanah Merah, Kelantan.  There, the psychologists quickly went to work to assess the trauma experienced by the victims.

There are 44 schools in the area, and Insaf was there to help in 7 schools. The psychologists, who mostly come from private practice, did art therapy for the children.

The children were asked to draw what they felt, and some of the results were heart-breaking, with some of them drawing a black orb to signify their loss.

Some of them would even wake up at around 2 and 3 am to sounds of water rising even though there were no more floods.

And there were those who felt that the flood was a punishment from God.

Insaf is sensitive to handle such situations above, explaining to survivors for example that they shouldn’t blame themselves.

The NGO also trained 132 teachers to help identify the children who suffered the most from the floods.

Insaf will go again to Tanah Merah again to assess the psychological impact of the floods and to see whether the survivors need the help of psychiatrists.

If you’re interested to help Insaf, you can do so by making a donation to INSAF MALAYSIA (CIMB Bank Account No. 8600184578 or Maybank Account No. 562188306090)

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