A man barely has time to huddle his son and rush out of a building on Exhibition Road during the earthquake in Patna on Saturday. Like the boy in the Telegraph picture, scores of children across the city have been affected by illusions of recurring tremors
The quake and its aftershocks have only added to the woes of parents. Apart from the issue of safety, they now have to deal with panic-stricken kids.
Varsha Upadhyaya, a chartered accountant, has not been able to join work after Saturday's quake and subsequent tremors till Monday.
After the aftershocks of the Nepal earthquake, her two kids - Aryan (10) and Aditya (3) - have been behaving strangely. They are not allowing her to join office.
"They are not allowing me to attend office. They are very scared. Things have changed from Saturday. We have shifted to the basement of our building to calm down the kids," said Varsha, a resident of Boring Road, on Tuesday.
The two kids, who are usually not shy, are avoiding speaking to unknown people.
When The Telegraph tried to speak to them, they were a bit nervous.
Only after repeated queries did the elder one open up.
Aryan said: "It seems the earth is always shaking. I think I feel the ground shaking sometimes. I feel safe in the basement because I can run out in the open immediately if the quake hits Patna."
Varsha is not the only one though. Many parents have been facing a similar situation.
"My six-year-old daughter has not slept for the past two days even though she is down with fever. My son Anuj (9) too is in a state of shock and does not allow the main door of the house to be closed," said Pratibha, a Kadamkuan locality resident.
However, Kiran Sharma of Kidwaipuri is facing a completely different problem. Her elder son Anukalp (10) remains glued to the TV set all the time to watch tremor-related news.
"He keeps on watching TV to find out whether there is any quake forecast or not. He does not allow others to watch any other programme ever since the first tremors were felt on Saturday," Kiran said.
Experts, however, are not surprised by the changed behaviour of some children in wake of the tremors.
"Parents need to be watchful of their own behaviour. If they appear panic-stricken, their kids would feel unsafe. They need to stand tall and tell them it was just an event, which is history now. They can share their childhood experience if any, of such event, to instil confidence among their children," said psychiatrist Dr Binda Sinha.
She said many parents had consulted her about their panic-stricken children.
"I told most of them to avoid an overdose of quake-related news for their children. They should instead focus on the normal routine of life. Such things would help erase bad memories of the quake from children's minds fast," she added.
EXPERT ADVICE
♦ Keep children away from earthquake-related videos
♦ Get them involved in their favourite activities
♦ Educate kids about safety measures to be taken in case of quake
♦ Take them out for a week’s holiday
