By Ellaha Rasa
Ghezal speaks with a stutter. She has taken refuge with her family in a park on the outskirts of Herat city since a series of earthquakes levelled entires villages in Herat province.
“The sound of the earthquake was louder than the shaking of the ground. Like when suicide bombs take place. It was as if the earth was roaring,” the 11-year-old says. That was only the first quake which occurred at 11:11 local time on Saturday, October 7. “I was scared, trembling, and screaming,” Ghezal says.
Ghezal’s mother says that her daughter speaks very little from that day on.
Another three major quakes over magnitude 6 would follow that first one. One on the same day, another on October 11 and then another October 15.
There’s also been dozens of smaller aftershocks in between.
Ghezal tells Rukhshana Media that she follows the earthquake news with her parents’ cell phone. She says her heart hurts when she sees the mass burial of the bodies killed by the earthquake. But she is still living in the trauma of the quake.
Photo: Rukhshana media.
“Right now, when they were bringing the wounded, I am afraid that the children and people have been killed,” she says. “I was awake until midnight crying. Still now, I feel that the ground is shaking and the trees are falling on top of us.”
Authorities and humanitarian organisations such as the World Food Programme have said that more than 2,000 people were killed in the initial deadly earthquake in Herat. While fewer have died in the later quakes, the humanitarian need has raised concerns that more could become sick or die from lack of basic necessities.
According to UNICEF, published on X, 96,000 children have been affected by the earthquake in Herat province.
“Children and families need additional immediate assistance,” UNICEF says in its post. They need “first aid, clean water, treatment of malnourished children, distribution of health kits, medicine, financial aid, psychosocial support and creation of temporary educational spaces.”
A 12-year-old boy Eltaf is struggling with post-traumatic stress. According to his mother, Hanifa, he frequently wakes up crying and afraid at night since the earthquake, and has pain, headache, and earache all day long.
She says that she’s worried about her son’s condition. “My son makes involuntary movements,” she adds. “He puts his hands in his mouth and chews his lips and teeth.”
Hanifa, 30, says the doctor has instructed her to keep Eltaf away from any earthquake-related news.
The trauma is the latest in a number of hardships for Hanifa and Eltaf. Elate’s father died five months ago due to brain cancer. Hanifa says that she has seen signs of depression and isolation in her son since then, but she says despite continuous efforts to improve her son’s mood, she now worries his mental troubles are getting worse.
Ghazal and Eltaf’s mental and emotional state is the story of hundreds of children who have been pulled out from under the rubble or witnessed many scenes of devastation.
Khadija, 43, is mother to three daughters aged 19, 17 and 5, and a 14-year-old son. She says that her children struggle to sleep at night for fear of another earthquake.
She says her youngest daughter lost her appetite for a week after the first one, and is isolating herself. She does not even go to play with her peers.
It has been six days since Khadija and her family set up a tent in the area of a football field located in the same park as Ghazal’s family, Taraqi Park in Herat city.
She says they no longer feel safe in their house that was old and felt unstable after the earthquake.
Photo: Rukhshana media.
“We live in a rented house in Bekrabad area. On the first day of the earthquake, parts of the hallway and kitchen were wrecked, and the owner told us to leave the house,” she says. “If another strong earthquake occurs, it’s possible the house will be destroyed.”
Shegufa, 50, is a mother of two daughters aged 16 and 9, and two sons aged 12 and 4. She was baking bread for her family when the terrible resounding rumble of the earthquake shocked her and shook her house. They fled the house and have spent several days and nights in the open air.
They have also taken refuge in Taraqi Park but Shegufa says she worries about how crowded it has become because if an earthquake occurs at night when everyone is lying down, she fears the children will be trampled.
“My children feel that an earthquake could happen at any moment when they eat, walk, and sit,” she says about the state of shock her children are still in. “I am afraid that this fear will harm them mentally and emotionally in the future.”
While the house is still partially standing, Shegufa does not dare to return to it because of the damage. “If there is another earthquake with the same intensity as the previous one, my whole house will be destroyed.”
There is also a problem of misinformation. A lack of earthquake knowledge and understanding has led to people sharing incorrect information and updates about the earthquakes that has stoked the fear.
Wahid Noorzad, head of the mental health department at Herat’s regional hospital, said that children should be kept away from photos and videos of the heartbreaking and destructive scenes of the earthquake.
“During the past week, families are still in the shock of the quake and the haste with which they had to flee. This general panic causes mental and psychological disorders for the children who were at the scene or who are still living with the issues related to the earthquake from a distance.”
Children are a vulnerable group due to their lack of physical and mental maturity, he says.
“A child with an anxiety disorder could suffer from nightmares, nail biting, stuttering, and behavioral problems that may lead to more serious mental disorders if they do not receive social support,” he adds.
Mr Noorzad says the mental and psychological toll of the earthquake could be far more widespread and dangerous than many of the physical deprivations survivors experience. He says the ongoing fear and panic could increase anxiety disorders in children in both the short- and the long-term.
Although the exact statistics of children affected by the earthquake are not available, according to Mr Noorzad says the impact is widespread.
He suggests that children should not be persistently exposed to the ongoing news and should be encouraged to play with their peers as often as possible. He says they are not equipped to deal with the high level of stress this kind of natural disaster has brought upon them.
