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Guidelines
General Guidelines for psycho-social interventions to be adopted in the event of catastrophes [EN]
	In the context of intervention in support of victims of catastrophic events, it is necessary to pay close attention to the problems of a psychological or psychiatric nature which may arise in the persons directly affected as well as those involved in the relief services. Manifestations may be acute or they may develop over time with repercussions in the long term. Both natural disasters and those caused by humans, can be categorized, with reference to the Official Journal n. 126 of May 12th 2001, on the basis of their scale as follows: o catastrophic events of limited range o catastrophic events beyond the means of local support structures Both cases can be differentiated from individual and small scale emergencies in that they call for a qualitatively different type of response. In fact the context of a grand scale emergency requires the use of distinct procedures and methodologies which take into consideration the number of people involved and the precariousness of the prevailing environmental conditions.

Experiences
EMDR as treatment of post-traumatic reactions: A field study on child victims of an earthquake [EN]
	This field study explores the effectiveness of EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing) for the post-traumatic reactions of child victims in the post-emergency context of an earthquake that occurred in 2002 in Molise, a region of Central Italy. EMDR was chosen as the treatment for the children of the San Giuliano Primary School in Molise. Twenty-two of the children who experienced the traumatic event, being suddenly buried under the debris of their collapsed school and in contact with the bodies of their dead classmates for hours, received three cycles of EMDR treatment over one year, with a total average of 6.5 sessions of EMDR each. The results show that EMDR contributed to the reduction or remission of PTSD symptoms and facilitated the processing of the traumatic experience.