One Year Later: Emotional Burdens Slow Venezuelan Recovery

Vargas, Venezuela — It's not so much the dark clouds — or even the pelting rain on her flimsy metal roof. That alone would be enough to bring back frightening memories for most victims of last year's mudslides in Venezuela. For 40-year-old Carmen Alvarez, it's the smell of mud that slowly saturates the air, filling her nostrils with the musty scent of soggy earth and eventually becoming so overbearing that she can no longer maintain a brave front for her children.

Alvarez and her neighbors fled the seaside community of Los Cocoteros in Vargas state during last December's deadly mudslides. Once again, last month many were forced — by fear — to evacuate again. "The last time it rained, my son Hector was very nervous — because I was so afraid, he felt my fear," says Alvarez, referring to torrential rains last month that caused deadly mudslides nearly a year after those that killed as many as 50,000 people last December. "Just like after the mudslides last year, he could not bear to be left alone."

Images from Venezuela Fear is one of the most common psychological struggles of young disaster victims. (Click to see more)

The Venezuelan Red Cross requested that Alvarez and other parents join a recent support group meeting for their children in the coastal Vargas community of Los Cocoteros. "The children we have been helping to recover from the disaster were making progress until they saw their parents panicking during the latest heavy rains," explains Delys Navas, a Venezuelan Red Cross volunteer and counselor who received training in disaster mental health from the American Red Cross.

In the wake of last year's mudslides, the American Red Cross, with the help of the Mexican Red Cross and the Venezuelan Red Cross, spearheaded the South American society's first mental health program. Through the program, the American Red Cross helped to set up a network of 360 mental health counselors throughout the country. "Should a disaster occur again, counselors are trained to work immediately to help people talk about what they're feeling," says Janet Shriberg, an American Red Cross mental health worker who helped with the training.

A year after the Venezuelan mudslides, American Red Cross-trained counselors continue to respond to the overwhelming psychological needs of disaster victims. Throughout muddy communities of damaged and half-buried homes, shelters and resettlement areas, survivors are coping with the fear, loss and confusion caused by Venezuela's most deadly natural disaster this century.

Red Cross counselors have played an important role in helping people overcome these feelings and rebuild their lives, Schriber says. "Mental health is part of physical health and people being able to care for their needs. Strengthening people's mental health also strengthens communities and helps people rebuild what they lost," she says.

Mudslide victims continue to suffer a range of psychological effects, Navas says. Some cry all the time; some are violent or depressed. Others may manifest their emotional pain physically — perhaps in the form of headaches, high blood pressure or stomach pains. "When it rains, many disaster victims complain of stomach aches," Navas says.

Others suffer memory loss, flashbacks or constant fear. "All they can think about is the disaster. Many are overprotective of their families or don't let loved ones leave their sight; sometimes parents don't even let their children go to school," says Navas, who manages a group of mental health workers in Vargas, the most affected area in last year's mudslides.

Red Cross mental health workers hold support groups and visit mudslide-stricken communities and families to help Venezuelans cope with the effects of the disaster. They may play games with children who witnessed the death of their friends or hug a single mother struggling to raise her children after losing everything she owned. "The important thing is for them to express their feelings," Navas says. "After that, they tell us that they feel better."

The American Red Cross is dedicated to helping make families and communities safer at home and around the world. A humanitarian service organization currently operating on a budget of $2.7 billion, the American Red Cross annually mobilizes relief to the victims of more than 63,000 disasters nationwide and has been the primary supplier of lifesaving blood and blood products in the United States for more than 50 years. The American Red Cross also trains more than 11.7 million people in vital lifesaving skills, provides direct health services to 2.5 million people, provides more than 24 million locally relevant community services, assists international disaster and conflict victims in more than 50 countries, and transmits nearly 1.4 million emergency messages between members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families. Dr. Bernadine Healy is president and CEO of the American Red Cross. If you would like information on Red Cross services and programs please contact your local Red Cross.