Family Waits to Break News to Quake Orphan

The little boy rescued here Friday after being trapped for three days under a collapsed high-rise apparently hasn’t yet been told that his parents and two little sisters weren’t so lucky.

Counseled by psychiatrists to let the child express his feelings through activity, the bevy of aunts, uncles and grandparents now keeping vigil by his hospital bed gave him crayons. He drew a picture of his sister chasing a butterfly.

“He is quiet,” said Chang Shu-nu, an aunt. “He seems like he has something on his mind.”

In a seeming miracle, Chang Zing-hung--6 years old by the Chinese calendar but 4 1/2 by Western measure--emerged relatively unscathed from the carnage of Tuesday’s earthquake. But the family members sleeping in the same second-floor apartment--his father, mother and 3-year-old and newborn sisters, along with an aunt--were killed.

So far, only the body of the boy’s father has been retrieved.

After initial fears that he might have suffered internal injuries, the boy appeared to be out of the woods Sunday, at least physically, taking a few steps, eating and asking for his favorite soft drink, Suzou, for which he’s now a poster child of sorts. The manufacturer delivered 10 cases of the beverage after the child requested it during his widely covered rescue.

Though he was calm Sunday, much as he is said to have been since he was born, Zing-hung is likely to suffer psychological aftershocks in coming weeks, predicted psychiatrists, as are most Taiwanese who saw tragic scenes or lost loved ones in the earthquake that killed at least 2,063 people and injured 8,672.

Compounding the post-traumatic stress that has settled over this weary island are omnipresent reminders of last week’s catastrophe, from the buildings tilted on their sides and the continuous television coverage to the thousands of aftershocks that have shaken the ground, including a strong temblor that killed four people Sunday morning.

Many families of victims trapped in the wreckage are still praying for another miracle like that of the two brothers found alive Sunday morning in a Taipei building.

On Sunday afternoon, several of Zing-hung’s aunts and uncles and his grandparents huddled at Jen-Ai Hospital with three psychiatrists who had volunteered their services. The professionals suggested that the family do whatever the boy wants, not asking about but letting him reveal his feelings by playing with his toys or engaging in other activities.

Dr. Wang Chih-chang, a psychiatrist who has been treating the boy, said that for now, the loving phalanx of relatives at his bedside will distract him from the tragedy. But he could later develop post-traumatic stress symptoms such as poor social interaction and nightmares, or become very serious and depressed.

There were conflicting reports about whether Zing-hung had inquired about the whereabouts of his parents and sisters since his rescue, during which he asked his aunt where his father was.

“He’s out here waiting for you,” she lied.

His general physician, Dr. Dah Wen-shyu, said Sunday that the child had asked his aunt and his kindergarten teacher about his mother and sisters. It wasn’t clear how they responded.

But an uncle, Chang Teh-chai, offered a different account.

“We don’t know if he actually has realized what happened, but we can feel the boy already knows something happened to them,” he said.

Just as the circle of relatives is helping distract the boy, the boy’s miraculous survival is helping to buoy his grieving family.

“We’re lucky he was rescued,” the uncle said. “At least we still have him.”