Coping With Crisis

View Enlarged Photo and Caption"Americans are accustomed to seeing psychiatrists," says Dr. Enoka Wickramasinghe. "Sri Lankans aren't."

That all changed with the tsunami.

Dr. Enoka, as she prefers to be known, was appointed psychiatric specialist for Weligama last November, a month before the sea turned angry. Suddenly, she found herself with an incipient mental health crisis on her hands -- which is likely to grow over time as frustrations build over the pace of the reconstruction effort.

I first heard about Enoka from the parents of Shyamali, the girl who lost her cassette radio and other prized possessions during the tsunami. They told me they had taken their daughter to see Enoka after she started suffering from hallucinations and sleep disorders because of the tsunami. Enoka encouraged me to buy a replacement cassette player for Shyamali.

"It will keep her mind occupied," she told me.

Enoka spends her days touring refugee camps, and identifying people -- mainly young children and adolescents -- who are most at risk from long-term psychological problems. She has recruited half a dozen medical students to assist her and they are serving as volunteers in the camps. A local company has donated toys, games, drawing materials and sporting equipment to keep the children occupied.

It will take many months before the scope of the mental health challenge becomes clear, says Enoka. Continuous crying, insomnia and depression are all normal in the first phase of bereavement. She estimates that 10 per cent of the effected population will suffer from long-term psychological disturbances.

In a way, Sri Lankans are better placed to deal with this crisis than westerners, Enoka believes. "People here are used to solving problems. Their problem management is better than in the west."

We went together to visit one of the temporary refugee camps in Weligama. More about that Monday.

-- Michael Dobbs

By washingtonpost.com |  February 25, 2005; 5:00 AM ET  | Category:  Enoka Wickramasinghe , Michael Dobbs
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