The fear of "there will be an earthquake" disrupted the psychology of people living in İstanbul!
While the discussions and preparations for the possible Istanbul earthquake continued, the fact that the subject became frequently on the agenda disrupted the psychology of people who live in İstanbul. Residents are constantly experiencing the fear of "is it shaking, is there an earthquake?". Prof. Nevzat Tarhan pointed out that our mental health was affected and warned about it.
Recently, the possible Marmara earthquake has been re-focused. It is stated that hundreds of thousands of buildings will be destroyed in Istanbul and many residents will lose their lives if this disaster occurs. Since August 17, 1999, the people living in the mega city, where preparations for the possible earthquake are continuing, have been sleeping with the earthquake and getting up with the earthquake agenda. With the effect of two major earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş, the worry that "there will be an earthquake" every day in Istanbul negatively affects the psychology of residents. İstanbul residents go to bed with an earthquake and get up with an earthquake. How psychologically correct is it that this issue comes up every day? How will Istanbul residents cope with this uncertainty that turns life into a nightmare? How possible is it to prepare psychologically for an earthquake without being an earthquake victim? President of Üsküdar University, Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan answered all these questions to Şifa Kaymak from haberglobal.com.tr.
"The fact that this issue is brought up every day adversely affects our mental health"
Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan pointed out that such an important issue may have side effects when it is constantly on the agenda and said that "The fact that this topic is on the agenda every day means to a person ‘live with the snake in your house’. It negatively affects our mental health. It's not psychologically correct, anxiety rises and increases the burden of the person's avoidance behavior.".
İstanbul citizens feel constantly shaking
It adversely affected the psychology of İstanbul residents. İstanbul residents have begun to say “Is there an earthquake? Is it shaking?” when they are standing still. And we often hear this sentence from people who live in İstanbul who did not experience the earthquake in their lives and later settled here. Prof. Nevzat Tarhan emphasized that spelling disaster should not be done on the subject and said that "Awareness about earthquakes is necessary. It is certain that the building stock is not durable. Such situations should continue from a scientific point of view, not by spreading fear. What bothers people the most is the uncertainty and the unknown that pushes the person to the wrong things. Instead of creating fear, it is necessary to draw a road map and act based on evidence. On the one hand, their sensitivity to earthquakes increases, and therefore, their psychology may be affected adversely. For this reason, it is now necessary to explain the road map instead of spelling disaster on this issue. They need to address the efforts that will keep the hopes alive.".
Is the fear experienced by Istanbul residents an earthquake or a struggle for survival under the rubble?
With the Istanbul earthquake frequently coming to the agenda, the fear experienced by citizens may vary from person to person. Are Istanbul residents afraid of experiencing the earthquake, struggling to survive under the rubble, or dying? To this question, Tarhan said that "People vary according to their personality characteristics, if they have trauma in the past, they live more violently, if they have lost a relative, they live more in an isolated way. ‘Istanbul is not safe, life is not safe.’ These rumors are also damaging to earthquake-related work. We experience ‘bad world syndrome’ and we react to it in 3 ways as follows: 1) We become withdrawn and depressed. 2) We become aggressive and turn to violence. 3. We are pushed into avoidance behavior. They want to walk away saying that Istanbul is not safe. We know that not only the citizens affected by this situation, but also the experts who want to come to Istanbul from Anatolia do not come because of earthquake concerns.".
After the Kahramanmaraş-based earthquake, which is considered as the disaster of the century, various studies were carried out for the psychology of earthquake victims. So how possible is it to prepare psychologically for an earthquake without being an earthquake victim?
Tarhan answered this question as follows: “First of all, we are in the earthquake zone in Istanbul, and we need to be aware of this first. We should not deny the facts, but some do. We need to accept that an earthquake may be imminent and possible, not a distant possibility. ‘What do I do if there is an earthquake in my location?’. Thus, we need to know the triangle of life, we need to keep the earthquake bags ready and take concrete steps with evidence-based information whether our home is also safe. It is necessary to put this issue on the agenda in the management of an apartment. When all precautions are taken, our anxiety will decrease. When the subject comes to our minds, our stress load will be reduced by saying "I have taken all the steps, and I feel safe". As long as the subject of earthquakes comes to our minds, we will feel safe. An earthquake is not a disaster to be tolerated.”.
"We should not mummify certain events in our minds"
Tarhan stated that "The shock is unforgettable, but, you cannot bear it if you experience an incident that happened 2 months ago as if it happened yesterday. The biggest mistake here is to mummify the trauma" and re-emphasized his remarks as follows: "Those who sleep with whistles, those who walk around with helmets, those who run to the door in a small tremor despite the time passed since the earthquake... It is the things that keep this trauma alive. Posttraumatic stress disorder; dreaming, leaping and startling we repeat what we call flashbacks, that is, what happened like a film strip. Therefore, expert support is required. Following these concerns, diseases such as stomach and heart disease also arise in the body. We should not mummify such events in our minds. It is necessary to accept traumas and it is important to manage them.".
"Take concrete steps, feel safe"
Tarhan gave the following recommendations to minimize our psychological problems that may occur before and after the earthquake:
"First of all, it is necessary not to neglect and to take concrete steps. What is my duty as an individual, what is the duty of my family and what is the duty of the state? You need to solve them. In the unhealthy defense method, the person does not do anything on their own, and they blame the municipality, they blame the government, but they have not taken any precautions and have not received any information. There must be a crisis plan and for the aftermath. We have seen in recent earthquakes that the earthquake is caused by late interventions. No plan, no precautions, no preparation. These concretely prepare us both for earthquakes and make us feel psychologically safe and ensure that we have normalcy. In this way, we will protect our mental health.".