Children frightened by the massive earthquake off Sumatra today were quickly calmed by Acehnese volunteers trained by Plan in child trauma counselling.

"The Achnese volunteers who were trained in trauma counselling were able to help calm the children during and after the earthquake which shook Banda Aceh for five minutes," said Amrullah Amrullah, Plan Indonesia - Aceh program manager.

Plan - an international child centred community development agency - has partnered with Himpunan Psikologi Indonesia (HIMPSI), the Indonesian Psychological Association in a unique approach to help tsunami-affected children in 23 of Aceh's internally displaced persons camps.

Mr Amrullah said the children were all safe but during the earthquake they panicked and were crying -"they were very frightened but the counsellors were able to keep them calm."

"This morning, the trauma counsellors have been speaking to groups of children telling them that a tsunami was not going to take place after this earthquake," he said.

The earthquake that measured 8.7 on the Richter scale struck the island of Nias off the west coast of Sumatra at 2:15am (AEST) on 29 March. The Indonesian Government reports up to 2000 people may have been killed when buildings collapsed on the island of Nias, which has a population of 500,000.

Mr Amrullah said the response, which was carried out in darkness was a very well coordinated effort with the camp coordinator and trauma counsellors relaying information received from the Aceh-based Indonesian disaster response team.

Mr Amrullah said that no deaths or major injuries from the earthquake had been reported in Banda Aceh.

"However, there are reports of minor traffic accidents caused as people fled on foot and motorbikes to higher ground," he said.

"The power was also blacked out for an hour so people were fleeing in darkness. We all expected another tsunami to hit the coast," Mr Amrullah added.

He said once people understood there was no threat of another tsunami hitting the coast, most people had calmly returned to the displaced persons camps by 4am.

Plan Indonesia staff based in Aceh will continue training Acehnese volunteers in trauma reduction counselling. "We have trained 40 volunteers and plan to train another 100 to 200 people from the displaced persons camps," Mr Amrullah said.

Mr Amrullah said Plan had identified the need to train volunteers in child trauma counselling, which includes the use of play therapy (role playing, games, art and music) to help the children learn to heal.

After the Boxing Day tsunami, Plan received reports of children suffering post-traumatic disorder, he said.

This lead Plan to partner with Himpunan Psikologi Indonesia (HIMPSI), the Indonesian Psychological Association for a unique approach to help tsunami-affected children in 23 of Aceh's internally displaced persons camps.

HIMPSI training course facilitator Rio Adriansah said a professional assessment confirmed by daily observations in the camps revealed that many children choose not to interact with others, preferring to be alone.

Mr Amrullah said: "because these volunteer trainees are tsunami-affected camps residents themselves, they know first-hand the issues which children are dealing with and already have the children's trust. This training has helped them better deal with the psychological and social issues the children in their classes are dealing with."

Plan Australia program manager Janet Parry who recently returned from Aceh said: "This latest earthquake brings back fresh memories of the traumatic experience these children lived through when the tsunami hit the coast on Boxing Day."

"The child trauma counselling with incorporates play therapy has proved to be very effective in helping children relax so that they can start to remember, understand and accept what has happened and be able to move forward socially and emotionally," she said.

Training of local community members to better help children realise their potential is a key example of the child centred community development approach taken by Plan, an international development organisation which has been working with children and their communities in the developing world for over 65 years.

Janet Parry
Plan Australia Program Manager
Phone: 03 9672 3647
Mobile: 0407 322 365

Amrullah Amrullah
Plan Indonesia Aceh Program Manager
Phone: 0011 62 651 22485
Mobile: 0011 62 815 1161 5681