[WSIS CS-Plenary] Re: Hope all is ok - Greetings from Toronto-Bam earthquake

[Elizabeth Carll, PhD]

Dear Amir,

We were saddened to hear about the disastrous earthquake in Iran and the
many people who have died.  If there is any way that I can help with regard
to mental health information and services in the wake of disaster, please
let me know.

 I would be happy to send you a copy of the manual I edited, "Developing a
Comprehensive Disaster and Crisis Response Program for Mental Health:
Guidelines and Procedures.  The manual focuses on the practical aspects of
organizing mental health teams and developed from my work in organizing the
first statewide (1990 in New York) volunteer disaster mental health network
in the US, which I coordinated for 10 years. At that time only emergency
service workers had such help available as the public did not.  As a trauma
psychologist, I believed   information and probono services should be
readily available to the public in times of crises.   I also was a founding
member of the national disaster response advisory task force of the American
Psychological  Association and served on it for 7 years and also served on
the task force that evaluated the mental health response to the Oklahoma
City bombing.

Actually my interest in the news media and ICT developed in conjunction with
my trauma work and the recognition for the need to disseminate helpful
psychological information to the public following crises, especially
regarding post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which many people were not
familiar with at the time.  Many people are not aware that PTSD is a
relatively new term that originated in 1980 in the wake of the Viet Nam War
and was used to describe stress and trauma following war.  It was not until
the 1990's that there was increasing recognition of the impact of PTSD on
victims of crime/violence, accidents, natural disasters, catastrophic and
chronic illness, etc.

 I have been working with the news media for more than 14 years to help
communities cope with the psychological aftermath of disasters and crises.
This led to my interest in working with United Nations activities and I had
organized a first of a kind workshop on "Peace building in the aftermath of
terrorism: The role of media and mental health professionals" for the 2002
Annual UN DPI/NGO Conference in New York City.

I would be happy to send you a copy of the disaster response manual or
perhaps to another mental health specialist in Iran as I have a couple of
copies left from the second printing.  I have written a variety of articles
on disaster and trauma and would gladly send those as well or help in any
other way that may be needed.

Best regards and wishes for a happy and healthy New Year,

Elizabeth

Dr. Elizabeth Carll
Focal Point
International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies;
Chair Media/ICT Working Group,
NGO Committee on Mental Health, New York
Tel: 1-631-754-2424
Fax: 1-631-754-5032
ecarll at optonline.net

-----Original Message-----
From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org]On
Behalf Of west Asia
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2003 4:29 PM
To: Robert Guerra; Planery WSIS
Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Re: Hope all is ok - Greetings from
Toronto-Bam earthquake


Dear Robert, All

Thanks a lot for your kind attention, yes the Bam earthquake is a terrible
incident, fortunately international help arrived on time, but most of the
city has already destroyed and we believe around 40000 people died, and some
of the most important historical places of Iran and world have  been
vanished.

Mrs.Shirin Ebadi has setup an bank account for receiving international
donations to be used safely and correctly, so if there is anyone who could
help, please inform me, we need a lot of help in future for re-building the
city and helping the remaining people and cure their mental traumas. There
will be a lot of kids which need foster or guardian families, from around
the world.

Anyhow, this life and Iran is full of natural disasters.

Thanks again for all your attention and sympathy, have a happy new year,
wish you the best.

With Regards

Amir Barmaki




----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Guerra" <rguerra at privaterra.org>
To: "Barmaki Amir Hossein" <westasiaregion at hotmail.com>
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2003 6:48 PM
Subject: Hope all is ok - Greetings from Toronto


> Amir:
>
>
> No doubt all your WSIS friends, and you do have a great deal of them,
> are worried about you.
>
> Been hearing the terrible news about th earthquake in southern Iran.
> Hope you, your family and friends are ok. Do let us know if you are ok.
>
> Wanted to let you know that early in the new year i'll be speaking at a
> conference close to you, not in Iran, but in Dubai. Not sure if you had
> planned on going to the Dubtech conference, but would be good to see
> you there.
>
> keep well my friend. Please do keep in touch
>
> regards
>
> Robert
>
>
> The 9th Dubtech Summit
> Tuesday-Wednesday January 13-14, 2004
> Dubai - UAE
> http://www.datamatix-dubai.com/index2.asp?page=agenda/agenda_dubtech.htm
>
>
> --
> Robert Guerra <rguerra at privaterra.org>
> Managing Director, Privaterra <http://www.privaterra.org>
>
>
>
>
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