Doctor warns on mental health danger

Sri Lankans will be grappling with the mental trauma of the deadly tsunami for a generation to come, says a Sri Lankan-born Auckland doctor.

Dr Rohan Ameratunga, who is in Sri Lanka assessing the country's aid needs, said there were no easy answers to deal with the psychological effect of the tidal waves which killed 30,000 Sri Lankans and left a million homeless.

"There are huge issues with loss of livelihood, loss of loved ones," said Dr Ameratunga.

"Psychological services in this country will be quite different to New Zealand."

Worries about the nation's mental health have also been raised by Sri Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasiria, who said his own family at Natara was still dazed by the disaster.

"My family members are still in shock at the moment. They are still scared. That is the first priority, I feel, mental rehabilitation for those people affected."

Dr Ameratunga will include concerns about psychological needs in a report he is to send to the Government by this morning for an emergency Cabinet meeting today.

He said while Buddhist monks were offering some individual counselling in temples, he would speak to colleagues in New Zealand to see what could best be offered.

His report to the Government is expected to raise the possibility of New Zealand "adopting" one district in Sri Lanka and focussing on its long-term reconstruction.

He will also advise against making any hasty decisions on aid. He says money should be raised, held and directed to specific projects later.

Wellington school teacher Kim McArthur has told how she escaped injury when her southern Sri lankan hotel was struck by the tsunami.

She thinks the fact she and three friends were in a second floor room helped protect them.

Ms McArthur, who teaches in Sri Lanka, said a strange noise alerted them that something was wrong.

Then people began yelling, "The sea is coming, the sea is coming".

The second wave of the tsunami did hit their hotel, but its force was blunted by a lagoon in front of the building.

Water reached the second floor balcony, but Ms McArthur said the hotel was strong enough to withstand the flood.

Afterwards that the town of Tangalle was silent because many of its residents had fled.

"It was just so spooky, just so quiet."

She and her friends left the hotel, walking through streets coated with thick mud and eventually catching a bus inland.