Aftermath of Oct. 15 earthquake haunting fear grips children in Bohol

CEBU, Philippines -  On a sunny Tuesday morning, Marivie Vistal and her younger sibling were taking a dip in a nearby river in Barangay Bagohan of Inabanga town when they felt the earth move under their cold feet.

The older Vistal immediately grabbed the hand of his trembling brother. They ran as fast as they could away from the roiling waters, as the land all around them started opening up.

They heard a roaring sound from under the ground. By then, they were already crying very hard and shouting for help. "We were so afraid. We did not know what was happening. We just ran away. We stumbled for how many times. My little sibling was traumatized. We thought it was the end of the world," Marivie recalled.

The 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit Bohol province on Oct. 15 had caused a ground rupture and pushed up a long stretch of  land by as much as three meters, resulting to an earthen wall above the quake's epicenter in the sleepy barangay of Anonang in Inabanga town.

Marivie said both of them hid under a large rock. They prayed that the tremor would stop. The two even thought that it was just a dream. If it was, it was surely a nightmare, she said. "When we reached home, our house was so devastated. The floor has large cracks. The walls seem to fall down," she added.

It was her grandmother who first consoled the young children. Their parents were out in the field when the quake happened. They were busy attending to errands, she said.

Two weeks has passed since the occurrence, Marivie said the fear is still there. Every night, when family members are already resting, sleep sometimes would evade her. She is afraid that a stronger aftershock would occur at night.

"Sometimes, I cannot sleep early. Thoughts are running in my mind. We are very afraid of the aftershocks at night," she said. Aftershocks become a part of the daily lives of the locals in Inabanga town, for at least two weeks more.

"As long as there are aftershocks, we will always be afraid for our lives," Marivie said. "We always pray at night. We pray that God will guide us every day," she added.

With the Bohol Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Councils (PDRRMC) identifying the need for a "psychosocial first aid" to Bohol's 280,524 students, RAFI  last week conducted stress debriefing or diffusing  sessions with around 200 children from the barangay.

The activities included Critical Incidence Stress Debriefing, games and storytelling, and giving out of candies, school supplies and Akong Bugsay coloring books for children, written by Amaya Aboitiz, telling the story of Andoy who persevered to succeed despite the adversity.

Among the signs RAFI learned that the children were traumatized by the quake is that they find difficulty in sleeping soundly, often waking up in the middle of  the night even when there are no longer aftershocks. "Makamata ko og kalit bisan wala'y aftershock," said one child.

There were also children who said they were still worried about the death of their neighbor, whom they would never see again.

Some social activities of the children, such as playing have been affected. Some said they avoid playing with the other children because of fear of the aftershocks. Some have lost their appetite to play in a group. RAFI, in its own little way, soothed their fears. — Contributed feature