Children Suffering Emotional Distress In Areas Still Without Power

Hurricane Sandy has created a miserable month for thousands of Southern Brooklynites. Homes were flooded, cars were destroyed, jobs were lost, and scores are still left without heat and power. While adults everywhere have been reeling from all the damage they have incurred, their children are also paying a heavy emotional price.

According to an article in the New York Daily News, children all across Coney Island, Brighton Beach, and Red Hook, living in homes without power, heat, and hot water, have become anxious, depressed, and frightened due to the radical change in their lives, and wondering when or if their misery will end.

Normally when the snow comes, it brings great elation to children everywhere, but not when they have been absent heat or power for over a week with no relief in site.

“I don’t want to live in my house anymore. I am scared. I don’t want to come back. We are literally right by the water,” told Janasia Chambers, 12, to the Daily News, “When it was snowing, it was scary.”

The Daily News cites child psychology experts who describe how fear and depression grow in children deprived of simple things we all take for granted like warm showers, fresh clean clothes, and the ability to play video games.

“The longer this persists, the more of a lasting impact it will have on kids. It will make them more fearful and more anxious,” said Alan Hilfer to the News, “[its like] a prison sentence.”