BRIEF REPORT The Psychological Impact of a Catastrophic Earthquake A Retrospective Study 50 Years After the Event Helen Lazaratou, MD, Thomas Paparrigopoulos, MD, Gerassimos Galanos, Constantinos Psarros, MD, Dimitris Dikeos, MD, and Constantin Soldatos, MD Abstract: Aim of the present study was to retrospectively assess the impact of a catastrophic earthquake in a sample of 121 survivors, 50 years after the event. Mean age  SD of the responders was 72.2  6.1 years. The majority of the victims (78%) acknowledged a strong overall impact of the earthquake on their lives, and almost all of them had intense recollection of the event at its anniversary. The most frequent symptom during the 6 months after the earthquake was persistent remembering or “reliving” of the event; women had considerably more often recurrent dreams of the earthquake and distress than did men. Women and young adults at the time of the earthquake appear to be the most vulnerable groups regarding the psychological effects of the event. Key Words: Natural disasters, earthquake, psychological reactions, PTSD symptoms. (J Nerv Ment Dis 2008;196: 340 –344) T he island of Cephallonia, across the western coast of Greece, is known for its high seismic activity, apparently the highest in the Balkan Peninsula and in Europe in general. From the 9th through the 11th of August 1953, a series of earthquakes with a magnitude ranging from 6.3 to 6.5 on the Richter scale struck the island; the main earthquake of 7.5R, however, occurred on Tuesday 12th August at 11:25. Accord- ing to official reports almost all the buildings over the island were severely damaged; in the town of Lixouri only one house remained intact. Overall, 455 deaths were recorded and 4400 people were injured. The national rescue actions were sufficient for the conditions prevailing at that time; yet, no psychological support was provided. The catastrophic event had a profound overall impact with long-standing repercus- sions on the socioeconomic structure of Cephallonia. Although the long lasting impact of natural disasters on the psychological well being of survivors may be consider- able, there are only a limited number of studies evaluating this possibility, 1 to 3 decades after the catastrophic event (Green et al., 1990, 1992; Morgan et al., 2003; Favaro et al., 2004; Bland et al., 2005). All these studies concluded that large-scale disasters affect the psychological health of victims for decades. Furthermore, most existing Greek studies deal only with the early psychological effects of earthquakes (Papadatos et al., 1990; Bergiannaki et al., 2003; Christodou- lou et al., 2003; Soldatos et al., 2006). Consequently, the objective of the present study was to retrospectively assess the impact of Cephallonia’s earthquake on the psychological well being in a sample of then young survivors, 50 years after the event. METHODS Participants A total of 165 inhabitants of the town of Lixouri who had survived the 1953 catastrophic earthquake were con- tacted 50 years later (September 2004). Subjects were ran- domly selected from the municipal lists. All subjects were born and lived in Lixouri throughout their lives. Eighteen subjects declined to participate because of lack of time or other inconvenience. Thus, 147 subjects were fully inter- viewed either at home or at the local municipal center by 4 experienced psychiatrists of the special disaster unit of the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Athens. Indi- viduals older than 86 years were excluded from the study to avoid most likely compromised memory; subjects younger than 62 years, i.e., who were less than 12 at the time of the earthquake, were also excluded because we did not intend to study children’s psychological reactions to the earthquake. Therefore, 121 subjects of mean age ( SD) of 72.2 years ( 6.1; range: 62– 86) at the time of interview were finally included in the analysis. Assessment A specially developed questionnaire for the assessment of the psychological impact of the catastrophic earthquake was administered after obtaining verbal informed consent from the participants. The screening questionnaire included: (a) several personal sociodemographic data; (b) information pertaining to the traumatic event and its repercussion on their lives; (c) 5 questions concerning the retrospective assessment (symptoms rated as present or absent) of intrusive and avoid- ance posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSD), according to the Department of Psychiatry, Eginition Hospital, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece. Send reprint requests to Thomas Paparrigopoulos, MD, Athens University Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, 72-74 Vas. Sofias, 11528 Athens, Greece. E-mail: tpaparrig@med.uoa.gr. Copyright © 2008 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins ISSN: 0022-3018/08/19604-0340 DOI: 10.1097/NMD.0b013e31816a62c6 The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease • Volume 196, Number 4, April 2008 340