Hong Kong volunteers head for Sichuan quake zone to provide counselling
Counsellors from city see messages from victims of massive 2008 quake saying latest incident has reopened their psychological wounds
A team of Hong Kong counselling professionals and mainland volunteers they trained will head to the Sichuan earthquake zone to offer help after they saw messages from survivors of the deadly 2008 quake saying the latest disaster had reopened their psychological wounds.
More than 20 Hong Kong tours comprising about 400 participants have been cancelled in the coming three weeks due to safety concerns, according to the Travel Industry Council.
Post Crisis Counselling Network, a Hong Kong-based non-profit organisation, has mobilised about 10 volunteers it trained in Sichuan to offer help to victims in the affected areas. It was established in the aftermath of the 2008 quake to offer psychological help to survivers and train local counsellors.
At least four professional psychotherapists from the city equipped with the latest medical instruments will also head to the affected areas as early as Saturday to treat traumatised victims.
“The earthquake in Jiuzhaigou could trigger post-traumatic stress disorders in survivors of previous earthquakes,” said Timothy To Wing-ching, the organisation’s executive director.
To said he saw many online messages from former victims saying they could not sleep or dreamed of the devastation in the 2008 quake, which killed more than 80,000 people.