When the huge explosion ripped through Beirut last week, it shattered the glass doors near where three-year-old Abed Itani was playing with his Lego blocks. He suffered a head injury and cuts on his tiny arms and feet, and he was taken to the emergency room, where he sat amid other bleeding people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the days since then, Abed has not been the same. Like thousands of others in Lebanon, he is grappling with trauma, The Associated Press reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I got to the hospital, I found him sitting in a corner in the emergency room, trembling at the sight of badly injured people around him, blood dripping all over the floor,\u201d said his mother, Hiba Achi, who was at work when the blast hit on August 4 and had left him in the care of his grandmother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe hates red now. He refuses to wear his red shoes,\u201d Achi said, adding that Abed insists that she washes them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hiba Achi hugs her son Abed Itani, who has cuts on his tiny arms caused by the Beirut blast, at her house in Beirut, Lebanon, on August 11, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The massive explosion of nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate in Beirut\u2019s port killed more than 170 people, injured about 6,000 others and caused widespread damage. The UN Children\u2019s Agency (UNICEF) said three children were among the dead and at least 31 were hurt seriously enough to need hospital treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As many as 100,000 children were displaced from their homes according to Save the Children, with many of them traumatized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAny noise makes him jump now. He is not eating well anymore,\u201d Achi said. \u201cHe was a happy boy, very sociable. Now, he doesn\u2019t talk to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joy Abi Habibi, a mental health expert with Save the Children, says young people who are traumatized can react differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHeadaches, nausea, bed-wetting, digestive problems are physical symptoms parents tend to overlook,\u201d she said. \u201cThey become clingy and extremely on edge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zeinab Ghazale\u2019s daughters, Yasmine, 8, and Talia, 11, have refused to sleep alone in their bedroom since the explosion, which broke windows in their apartment and sent glass flying around their room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe miraculously survived,\u201d said Ghazale, who had to move her daughters out of their home for a few days until the windows were fixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut my daughter Yasmin keeps asking, \u2018Why don\u2019t I have a normal childhood? Why do I have to go through all this when I am only eight?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Psychologist Maha Ghazale, who is no relation, has been treating many children after the explosion. She said many are experiencing uncertainty \u201cand they keep asking if this will happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMany children are refusing to go back home, to get close to a glass door or window,\u201d Ghazale added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ricardo Molaschi was visiting his grandparents\u2019 apartment in Beirut with his Italian father and Lebanese mother. When the blast hit, the six-year-old was cut by flying glass, requiring stitches. His grandfather, Kazem Shamseddine, was killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The youngster has been having recurrent bursts of anger toward whoever caused the explosion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI want to put them in a volcano and let them explode,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ghazale said that allowing children to process the trauma is crucial \u2014 letting them be angry but also encouraging them to tell the story orally or through art and play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy son, Fares, keeps playing a game where there is a fire, and he needs to escape,\u201d said Rania Achkar, a mother of two. Her four-year-old daughter Raya has turned the Lebanese national anthem into a song about the blast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe whole world has exploded,\u201d she sings, \u201cthere is a fire everywhere; everyone is talking about us on television.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trauma can repeat itself if children are exposed to the news and adult conversations about it, says Ghazali, who advises isolating them from that and seeking help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cChildren are resilient, but unprocessed trauma can lead to increased anxiety, behavioral problems, it becomes part of their life and can lead later to negative coping mechanisms,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Restoring a sense of safety, normalcy and routine will help, Ghazali says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hiba Achi says she has decided to leave Lebanon with her son and join her husband who works in Dubai. It\u2019s a sentiment echoed by many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis place is not safe for Abed, it never was, never will be,\u201d she said, \u201cI don\u2019t want to stay here anymore, that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her guilt is shared by many parents, particularly those who have lived through Lebanon\u2019s 1975-90 civil war and feel like they have failed their children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur generation is traumatized forever,\u201d said Achkar, the mother of two, referring to those who grew up in Lebanon after the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut why do our children have to go through this as well?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When the huge explosion ripped through Beirut last week, it shattered the glass doors near where three-year-old Abed Itani was playing with his Lego blocks. He suffered a head injury and cuts on his tiny arms and feet, and he was taken to the emergency room, where he sat amid other bleeding people. In the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,4],"tags":[1192,861,639,178,1193],"yoast_head":"\n