Understanding grief in children due to disasters

What is Grief?

Grief is defined as deep or intense sorrow in response to loss of someone or something. While grief   involves dealing with difficult emotions such as anger and sadness among others, there is no specific time frame for grieving as it may be an ongoing process until one reaches acceptance with the help of some professionals and the right support.

Natural Disasters on the rise
Natural disasters present a growing threat to children’s well-being as they are not exempt from experiencing grief, its impact and effects. Children experience grief differently and their response to it may be influenced by many factors such as the depth of relationship they had with the deceased, their age, and family context. As the world experiences adverse situations, children get affected too even more so compared to adults. 

Natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunami, and floods such as those experienced, in Haiti and Japan in 2010 and 2011 respectively can gravely affect children. Many people were displaced while some remained trapped in rubble for several days and countless lives lost. Including close family members. These negative images, experiences and changes to their way of life can be so traumatic for anyone but severe in children. The uncertainty that comes with it can heighten the sense of grief for children as there are disturbances to their socio-economic and mental wellbeing as well as collapse of support structure.

In Zimbabwe, we have experienced cyclones and flash floods but the 2018 Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani and 2016 flash floods that hit Tsholotsho are the most recent that left a trail of loss and psychological trauma in children.  Buildings like schools and homes were swept away, loss of family members and displacements were some of the effects that children had to deal with. The losses resulted in a deviation from their normal fun- filled care- free day to day lives’.  In 2008, the cholera outbreak also caused deaths in most families. Today, the Covid-19 pandemic has and continues to hit not only Zimbabwe, but the entire world resulting in negative changes in children’s lives as close family members continue to suffer while others succumb to the virus.

 
Effects of these disasters
As a result of the traumatic events taking place, children may have to deal with the aftermath of family member losses.  Deaths caused by disasters and pandemics are disturbing as they are sudden, unexpected, traumatic and tend to affect children severely. Bereavement causes changes in the way of living and family support structure in the lives of children thus causing deep emotional wounds. 

If unchecked, grief can consume a child and leave them feeling angry, lost, rejected, shamed among other undesirable emotions. Children may develop other psychological challenges and exhibit certain characteristics such as trauma, depression, attachment disorders, stress and anxiety. 

Nqobizitha Moyo is an Educational Psychology Intern. He can be contacted on Email: nqobzthmoyo@gmail.com