Katyusha hit (Archive photo)
צילום: רויטרס
Report: Third of northerners in trauma
New study reveals a third of northern Israel's residents are suffering from post-traumatic symptoms because of last summer's war with Hizbullah
Thirty-three percent of northern Israel residents are suffering from either medium or high, and in some cases severe, posttraumatic symptoms, a new study has shown.
The study showed that most residents do not expect their local councils to evacuate them but rather to look after them in their communities, and not all want assistance from billionaires and aid groups.
The study probes 300 people from Jewish and Arab cities that were targeted by Hizbullah last summer.
The study found that 33 percent of Jews and 85 percent of Arabs remained in their bombarded cities with their families.
On the other hand, 45 percent of Jews against 13 percent of Arabs said that only some of their family members were evacuated during the war.
Women suffer more than men
Twenty-two percent of Jews and two percent of Arabs said everyone in the family sought refuge in a safe place. The average number of days spent away from home stood at 19 among Jews and 10 percent among the Arabs.Eighty percent said they had witnessed rocket attacks against their cities. After the war some 33 percent of residents of communities bombarded by Hizbullah reported stress, and post trauma symptoms that ranged in severity from medium, high to severe.
Forty-one percent of trauma sufferers are women, and 25 percent are men. Among those suffering serious symptoms, the number of women was 2.2 times bigger than that of men.
Thirty-four percent of those polled said their children are suffering post-traumatic symptoms.
Asked about future conflicts in the north, 62 percent of Jews and 50 percent of Arabs said they would like to have the whole family evacuated to a safer location instead of having only their children evacuated.
Only 48 percent of Jews and 88 percent of Arabs said they assistance at war time should come from charities.
Asked what should be the order of priority of emergency measures in case of a future conflict, most residents placed shelters top, followed by assistance to the elderly and handicapped, health care, resident evacuation, food supply and children activities.
