This guide covers psychological first aid which involves humane, supportive and practical help to fellow human beings suffering serious crisis events. It is written for people in a position to help others who have experienced an extremely distressing event. It gives a framework for supporting people in ways that respect their dignity, culture and…[Read more]

Draft version (2010)

This document is for protection programme managers working at national and sub-national level in low and middle income countries. It is both for Protection Cluster coordinators (and coordinators of the five specific areas within the Cluster) and for protection programme managers in government, UN and non-UN international organisations and local…[Read more]

This document is for humanitarian health actors working at national and sub-national level in countries facing emergencies and crises. It applies to Health Cluster partners, including governmental and non-governmental health service providers. Based on the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (IASC,…[Read more]

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC ) issues these Guidelines to enable humanitarian actors to plan, establish and coordinate a set of minimum multi-sectoral responses to protect and improve people’s mental health and psychosocial well-being in the midst of an emergency

This study examined the incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and
depression in 586 earthquake survivors living in prefabricated housing sites a mean
of 20 months after the 1999 earthquake in Turkey.

In this article the current status of knowledge on the mental health effects of earthquakes on children and their treatment is reviewed, based on a literature
search using the PILOTS database (electronic index for literature on psychological trauma). Also presented is a mental health care model for earthquake survivors
developed after the 1999…[Read more]

North-western Turkey was struck by two strong earthquakes in 1999: the first, 7.4 on the Richter scale, occurred on 17 August, and the second, on 12 November, rated 7.2. The quakes left several million people homeless or otherwise affected, and official government figures put the number of deaths at 17,255 and 44,000 injured.

Following the…[Read more]

The psychosocial school project for children affected by the 1999 Earthquakes in Turkey.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in patients presenting to Primary Healthcare Centers in the affected regions of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, in the aftermath of the October 8, 2005 earthquake. Another objective was to carry out a need-assessment survey from patients’ and health care providers’ perspective.

This report is based on the observations of the earthquake affected villages of Elazığ, interviews with authorities and survivors and focus groups with the survivors of the March, 8, 2010 Başyurt‐Karakoçan (Elazığ) earthquake conducted in field trip on the 3-5 April, 2010, nearly one month after the quake. This report is a briefer version…[Read more]