TAIPEI: More than two weeks after Typhoon Morakot passed over Taiwan, thousands of children remain traumatized by the storm and the "Ministry of Education" (MOE) is taking steps to provide them counseling, administrative deputy chief Lin Tsong-ming said yesterday.

Some 277 volunteer counselors and 100 professionals are already working in the areas hit hardest by the tempest. Many of the young victims lost relatives. Many saw their homes destroyed by Morakot. The symptoms of post-disaster psychological trauma are appearing in many, he said. They can't sleep, experience nightmares, have poor appetite. They can't focus.

Lin said that the MOE has devised a two-phase plan, under which individual one-on-one counseling will be provided in a first stage. In a second phase, universities will "adopt" elementary and junior high schools and offer professional therapy to affected children in the schools they adopt, he added.

The plan calls for an integrated effort by the MOE, local governments and the participating universities and will involve students, parents and teachers in the disaster areas, he said.

The aim is to provide a professional, systematic, localized and deeply caring service, he added.

The first stage of the plan will commence before school opens for the new semester and will focus on soothing the victims and easing their stress.

There are 13 psychological therapy centers at the emergency shelters at present. Counselors will identify children in need of therapy and send them to the centers.

In the second phase, which will begin after school opens, professional counselors will be placed at schools to help the children recover in the long term and adapt to new lives. The second phase of the program will continue until February.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 08/25/2009 page2)