**5. Earthquake and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)**

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder has been recognized as a formal diagnosis since 1980. However, as early as the 6th century BC/BCE, reports of battle-associated stress reactions had been reported. One of the first descriptions of PTSD was made by the Greek historian Herodotus. In 490 BC/BCE he described, during the Battle of Marathon, an Athenian soldier who suffered no injury from war but became permanently blind after witnessing the death of a fellow soldier. However, it was called by different names as early as the American Civil War, when combat veterans were referred to as suffering from "soldier's heart." In World War I, symptoms that were generally consistent with this syndrome were referred to as "combat fatigue." Soldiers who developed such symptoms in World War II were said to be suffering from "gross stress reaction," and many troops in Vietnam who had symptoms of what is now called PTSD were assessed as having "post-Vietnam syndrome." PTSD has also been called "battle fatigue" and "shell shock."

PTSD is an emotional illness that is classified as an anxiety disorder and usually develops as a result of a terribly frightening, life-threatening, or otherwise highly unsafe experience, for instance the earthquake. Traumatic events that may trigger PTSD include violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, or military combat. The rates of PTSD suffered from earthquake vary from 2 to 87%.
