Post-Traumatic Stress.....

empty food shelves in the supermarket and convenience stores

another problem to be expected in crisis situations...

It has been 5 days since Japan was struck by the massive earthquake to be followed by the devastating tsunami soon after that. The immensity of the damage is now slowly unfolding. And to make matters worse, the nuclear power plants up north of Tokyo have exploded causing leakeage of radioactivity into the air.

Pakdokter's fear of this risk (which pakdokter had expressed on the first day of the disaster in response to caring enquiries from friends over the facebook about the safety of pakdokter's son, Rastam, who works in Tokyo) appears to be coming too close to reality. Pakdokter is still hopeful that the Japanese authorities will be able to avert a major disaster.

In the meantime pakdokter has been in constant contact with pakdokter's son, Rastam. Thanks to the internet, we could see each other via the MSN video-call and support each other over our anxieties. Rastam narrated in detail to us his experience during and in the immediate aftermath of the earth-quake. To pakdokter, that would have been some form of a 'debriefing' - a manouvre commonly applied for relief of stress following a traumatic incident. As a father, pakdokter was anxious about Rastam's health and Rastam's abilities of coping with the situation.

Many of his friends through facebook have suggested that he returns home for some time but Rastam feels that he should stay put through this crisis. And his employer also seem to have wanted business to go on as usual. Pakdokter has decided to leave it to Rastam's better judgement and will provide whatever support pakdokter could by keeping in touch via the internet.

Today, Rastam buzzed pakdokter to report that he suffered dizziness, palpitations and shortness of breath in his office which caught the attention of his colleagues and later his boss. His boss, who happens to also be a medical doctor, made ( what pakdokter agrees) the diagnosis of a PTSD ( post-traumatic stress disorder) and arranged for Rastam to go for a psychiatric consult and management. Pakdokter is greatly relieved by such a prompt response from his employer. Pakdokter can only do so much from here.

Apart from worrying about when the next earthquake or severe aftershock will hit, the folks in Japan have to also deal with a shortage of food and water due to the disruption of the supply chain. On Saturday, the McDonald's stores ran out of food and Rastam luckily managed to buy a bento box from the remaining 3 left in one of the convenience stores near his flat. He reported that things have improved slightly over the weekend. Trains are back running but not on regular schedules and his boss have given allowance for the staff to come in as late as 12 noon. And they now go home at 8 pm instead of the usual midnight as before.