Quality of life and happiness of the students in the disaster area: 6 years after the Tsunami at Takua Pa District, Phang Nga, Thailand.

Background: The Tsunami disaster, which occurred on December 26, 2004 in Thailand, caused enormous damage to life, property and community. Although the tragedy occurred 6 years ago, many children and adolescents still suffer from mental health problems.

Objective: To determine the quality of life and happiness of students who live in the Tsunami disaster area 6 years after the tragedy.

Material And Method: A cross-sectional study was done on 648 students from three schools in Takua Pa district, Phang Nga. They had been provided with psychological or support by multidisciplinary teams from Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, Siriraj Hospital and Chulalongkorn Hospital. The questionnaires consisted of 3 subsets which were self-report of general information, pediatric quality of life inventory and Thai happiness indicator.

Results: The student's quality of life was low 15.1%, moderate 68.7% and high 16.2%. Eighteen percent had good (27-42) score higher, 38% had a fair (27-32) score and 44% had a poor (< 27) score. Females and high school performance were associated with happiness.

Conclusion: Disasters have long lasting effects on victims, especially in children. Although this group of children had regularly received assistance including welfare, finance, education and health advice, most had fair quality of life scores were fair and poor-is this needed. Nearly half of them had happiness level scores less than average. They still have psychosocial problems and will need long-term monitoring, support and assistance.