Restoring Trauma Of Children Victims Of The Turkish Earthquake With Colors

Rescue teams combed the ruins of buildings due to the earthquake in Turkey. (Wikimedia Commons/VOA/Onur Erdogan)

JAKARTA - The earthquake that hit Turkey, some time ago, has caused trauma to the victims. No exception children who are now living in temporary shelters.

Entertainment is certainly something that can be done to help with trauma recovery, especially children.

This is what a volunteer graffiti artist Senol Karayaka did at a temporary shelter in Gaziantep, through art activities and others.

Senol Karakaya spends time with about 50 children at a refugee shelter in Islahiye after the earthquake rocked Turkey on February 6.

"We came as volunteers to help the children's psyche. Children's Street is a project we developed and we are here to help children paint and color their dreams," Karakaya said in an interview with Anadolu, as quoted by Antara, Saturday, March 4.

Volunteers plan activities such as playing kites, carving statues and painting with children in Islahiye. According to Karakaya, the color has a significant impact, such as blue which is related to calm, yellow which symbolizes the light of the child.

"We also analyze the colors they wear and see their fears," he said.

According to him, color is the main shield that diverts people from psychological state due to destruction and worry. "Warna serves as a unifying of our lives. This work allows us to see a glimmer of light from their eyes," he said.

Karakaya stated that on the first day, the children were afraid to get out of the tent and they were afraid of being dark since the earthquake that occurred at 04.17 am local time. Because at the time of the incident there was no electricity when they came out, it was dark everywhere and people screamed.

"That's why the darkness scared them," said Karakaya.

Karakaya continued, many children lost friends and family and were psychologically destroyed. There were even volunteers, the fear was not lost.

Karakaya revealed that colors are used to divert them and as an effort to awaken characters in the world of children's dreams so that they are distracted from fear.

Turkey established a shelter for about 1.6 million people affected by the devastating earthquake on February 6. A total of 332 temporary shelters and 360,167 tents were established in the earthquake zone.

The 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes were centered in Kahramanmaras and hit 10 other provinces. More than 13 million people were affected by the earthquake which claimed 45 thousand lives.