Melcom disaster: Psychological Association offers to help victims overcome trauma

Emelia Ennin Abbey Nov - 08 - 2013 , 08:07

One year after the Melcom disaster which claimed 14 lives, some of the survivors are still traumatised by the incident and are yet to regain their full strength to work for a living.

Some of the 81 survivors who continue to experience sleep disorders and phobia for storey buildings have also expressed concern over the way they have been treated so far.

But the Ghana Psychological Association (GPA) says it is ready to help the victims manage their post-disaster trauma.

A six-storey building at Achimota in Accra collapsed on Wednesday, November 7, 2012, killing 14 people and leaving 81 people with various degrees of injuries.

Experiences

In separate interviews in Accra, some of the survivors shared their experiences with the Daily Graphic and how they were coping with post-disaster trauma.

One of them, Mr Abdul Wahab, who is currently with the National Ambulance Service, said he could not hide his displeasure at the way the surviving victims had been handled in the past year by his former employers and managers of the special account set up to solicit funds for the victims.

He said although he had been invited to work with Melcom, he had no intention to work with his former employers any longer.

Affectionately called Abdul when he was at Melcom, Mr Wahab said: “I had no intention of continuing to work with the company. We received a letter from the company asking us to report for work when most of us had not fully recovered. I wanted to receive the compensation that we were promised and after five months I left.”

With scars all over his body from the injuries he had sustained from the incident, Mr Wahab recalled his experience during the disaster.

On Wednesday November 7, 2012, he said, he had reported for work but before the shopping centre opened its doors to the public, portions of the building in which they were working collapsed.

“I ran for cover when the building caved in and l found myself in the midst of four other staff members, including one branch manager, Gerald Berhene, who died a day after the incident at the 37 Military Hospital.

“I still think about the incident. Most of my friends are traumatised too. I can see that I am not alright, as I do not have the strength to do tedious tasks as I did before,” he said.

Another victim who wants to remain anonymous said November 7, 2012 was three days away from his 19th birthday and, therefore, he had reported for work in a joyful mood.

He was then planning to celebrate his birthday but he had to give up his dreams when he found himself trapped in the rubble of the collapsed building.

Surviving On Urine

He said he found himself trapped under the rubble of the six-storey building for two days, with no water and food and only dust-filled air to satisfy his desperate desire for oxygen.

Tearful Enoch related that he survived on his urine for two agonising days.

“November 7, 2012 is a chilling date many Ghanaians would prefer not to remember,” he said.

He said he had reported early to work and joined his friends for the routine morning prayers on the ground floor.

“One of our managers was just about to address us when I heard one of the pillars falling and then there were more sounds of cracking ... so I ran to the warehouse.

“I had my mobile phone but there was no network signal. So I prayed and asked God to help me,” he said.

A year after the gruesome incident, his badly damaged limb still needs medical attention.

Relating his post-traumatic stress, he said, “I cannot walk in front of any storey building.

I am afraid that the building might collapse. I sometimes have mental images of the incident. Debris lying on dead bodies, screams of helpless victims and stuff like that,” he said.

As his 20th birthday approaches, he said he had no intention of celebrating.

“I do not want to think about what happened on that day,” he said.

Overcoming the Trauma

The GPA has offered to help. The association says a traumatic event brings about distress and emotional pain and “when it is overwhelming it can render the individual powerless”.

The Public Relations Officer of the GPA, Dr Kingsley Nyarko, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, explained that exposure to traumatic events could have negative emotional effects on an individual, “but it becomes serious when, after one month, it is observed that the individual has not overcome the emotions”.

For the victims of the Melcom disaster who are still experiencing the negative consequences of the incident, he suggested that they needed psychotherapy, “as the emotion and fear, if not controlled, can trigger them to withdraw from people and also take to alcoholism”.

“They have to seek assistance, such as coaching and counselling,” Dr Nyarko, who explained that what the victims were experiencing could be post-traumatic stress disorder, a mental health condition triggered by terrifying event, said.

He gave assurance of the association’s readiness to assist the victims.

“As professional psychologists, we are very much aware of the profound emotional trauma that is likely to aggravate the well-being of the affected victims,” he said.

Melcom Response

The Communications Director of Melcom, Mr Godwin Agbenovor, told the Daily Graphic that the families of the 13 deceased had been compensated through the Labour Department.

He said but for one injured person who was yet to undergo the required medical examination, all the others had been given their compensation packages.

When asked how the post-traumatic conditions of the survivors were being managed, Mr Agbenovor said “that has not come to our notice” and added that “anybody with that problem should come forward and we will give him or her all the help he or she needs.”

To mark the first anniversary of the incident, the company donated an ambulance to the 37 military Hospital and held 30-minute prayer sessions at all its branches.

As the nation marks one year of the incident, the wishes of the surviving victims who spoke to the Daily Graphic were to overcome the trauma and see that laws on building high structures and commercial properties were enforced by the appropriate bodies to avert a repetition of the disaster.

Daily Graphic/Ghana