T

he cramped conditions in shelters and the sheer anxiety over the prospect of future eruptions are causing a number of Merapi refugees to suffer depression.

“Four evacuees are suffering from severe depression, and some are even suffering from psychological disorders and have been referred to mental hospitals,” health worker Retno Kusumastuti said Wednesday.

Retno, a Cangkringan community health center employee, was working at an evacuee health post in Glagahharjo, Sleman.

The four patients often daydreamed and cried hysterically, she said. “We have to call volunteers and soldiers to help calm them down.”

Many more evacuees are reported to be suffering similar distress. However, a lack of volunteers able to provide psychological care has made it difficult to assist such people, she said.

“Psychologists are available at posts, but not every day,” Retno said.

Fellow health attendant Ela Prastika was alarmed by another issue, citing the lack of integrated handling of child evacuees, despite the fact that children were more susceptible to trauma and difficult to help.

Wardi, 70, from Kinahrejo, Sleman, said stress levels were very high because of the overcrowded conditions in shelters.

Wardi and 80 other families who lived in the hardest-hit ring-1 zone have now lost their homes.

“We see other evacuees returning home to tend to their cattle, but our homes were destroyed and our cows were killed in the first eruption. We are more and more stressed every day, and if we stay at the shelter we may go insane,” said Wardi, who lost his son in Merapi’s first eruption on Oct. 26.

Wardi was no longer staying in an overcrowded shelter, having moved to a more spacious one at the Al Qodir Islamic boarding school in Kedung village, Cangkringan.

The Al Qodir shelter currently holds 300 refugees. The fact that all had lost their homes could psychologically help the group, Wardi said.

“If we stayed with others who still had their homes, we who lost our homes would become crazy, one by one,” he said.

The overcrowded conditions are partly attributable to the fact that huge numbers of residents living in safe zones have also taken refuge at shelters after they became panicked by Merapi’s explosive eruptions.

Wukirsari shelter, which was designed to hold 1,500, is currently sheltering 3,000 people. Many evacuees have been forced to sleep on the shelter’s porch.

Grashia Mental Hospital is currently treating 16 patients with mental disorders stemming from the Merapi eruptions.

Hospital director Rohana Dwi Astuti said depression and mental disorders were triggered by high levels of anxiety following the Oct. 26 eruption.

“As a result, many evacuees are anxious, worried and suffering from severe depression,” she said.

The hospital plans to carry out field counseling next week.

“We want to help evacuees suffering from psychological issues,” she said.