‘Don’t ask these questions to children affected by landslides’; requests Health Minister

KALPETTA: Minister Veena George directed not to ask any questions about the disaster to the children affected by the landslide in Wayanad. She pointed that these repetitions may lead to strengthening of this tragedy in their minds and cause mental disturbances in the future, she requested via a Facebook post.

Her FB post
This is a request. The medias in Kerala are working in a commendable manner in the Wayanad tragedy. Please consider this one request

1. Please do not ask children what happened in any disaster. (Be it children or adults, these repetitions may lead to strengthening of the tragedy in their minds and cause mental disturbances)

2. Please do not make children say about their friends who have lost their lives, family members or about their school at this time.

3. If disclosing the identity of children, do so only with the permission of their parents or guardians.

4. Don't talk about the bereaved. Sometimes they don't even know about it. Knowing this will put them in more complicated situations.

The authorities said that it is not possible to estimate how many lives have been lost even as search for the missing in the Wayanad disaster reaches its final stages. 206 people are still missing, five bodies were recovered yesterday. Three bodies and 13 body parts were recovered from Chaliyar river yesterday. The search entered the sixth day today. The unofficial count is that 354 have lost their lives including 30 children.