Objectives The study investigated facial expression recognition (FER) in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caused by exposure to earthquakes, and in particular whether people with this condition showed a bias toward interpreting facial expressions as threat-related emotions (i.e., as anger, fear, or disgust). The study included a trauma-exposed control group who had been similarly exposed to...

Many survivors of severe disasters need psychological support, even those not suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The critical issue in understanding the psychological response after experiencing severe disasters is to distinguish neurological microstructural underpinnings as vulnerability factors from signs of emotional distress acquired soon after the stressful life event. We col...

Earthquakes are one of the most destructive natural phenomena which consist of rapid vibrations of rock near the earth’s surface. Because of their unpredictable occurrence and enormous capacity of destruction, they have brought fear to mankind since ancient times. Usually the earthquake acceleration is noted from the equipment in crisp or exact form. But in actual practice those data may not be...

A massive earthquake, magnitude 6.9 on the Richter scale, hit Kachchh (a district in Gujarat state) on 26 January 2001 at 8.46 am. According to the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority, 12,200 people died and several thousand were injured. The salient psychological, ecological and social conditions that threaten the well-being of the survivors of a massive earthquake may include the trau...

BACKGROUND On March 11, 2011, Japan experienced an unprecedented combination of earthquake/tsunami/nuclear accidents (the Great East Japan Earthquake; GEJE). We sought to identify mental health and psychosocial consequences of this compound disaster. METHOD A systematic literature review was conducted of quantitative research articles addressing mental health of survivors and the psychologica...

After the high magnitude earthquake and the subsequent tsunami in Japan on March 11, 2011, the residents of Fukushima Prefecture suffered not only from tremendous physical injury caused by the earthquake and tsunami but also from the effects of radiation contamination after a hydrogen explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 12, 2011. The complex Fukushima disaster is cha...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the prevalence of probable post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression, and to identify risk factors related to these mental disorders among hard-hit survivors 1 year after the earthquake in Wenchuan, China. STUDY DESIGN : Cross-sectional survey. METHODS A door-to-door survey covering the entire temporary community was undertaken to investigate 11...

on 11th of august 2012 the region was surprisingly struck by a shallow mw 6.4 (usgs) earthquake with pure right-lateral strike-slip character only about 50 km north of the north-tabriz fault. an east-west striking surface rupture of about 20 km length was observed in the field by geological survey of iran. only 11 minutes later and about 6 km further nw a second shallow event with mw 6.2 occurr...