Psychology experts have called on the Chinese government to legislate on the provision of trauma counseling for disaster victims after the devastation caused by Typhoon Saomai.

Mental health had been largely ignored in the rush to provide material aid after natural disasters, said He Jincai, director of the psychology department of Wenzhou Medical College in east China's Zhejiang Province.

Psychological intervention for those afflicted with depression or other mental health problems should be included in the disaster response system as soon as the rescue work began, He said.

The Ministry of Health and the Zhejiang Association of Science had dispatched a 12-member counseling team to the areas worst affected by Saomai, the worst storm on the Chinese mainland in 50 years, which left more than 400 dead.

Saomai, the eighth typhoon to strike China this year, hit Cangnan County, Zhejiang Province, on August 10 and the trauma team arrived four days later.

Zhao Guoqiu, head of the psychology team, treated a 12-year-oldboy who lost his mother and three sisters in floods, making him recall the details of the disaster.

"The boy was suffering great anguish and who knows what would have happened to him if we hadn't given him timely treatment," Zhao said.

Five of the injured were encouraged by consultants to describe their experiences, as well as their feelings when the typhoon struck.

Zhao said follow-up counseling was just as important as the emergency treatment, and the counselors monitored their patients by phone and with personal visits.

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2006)