On the night of October 1st, 2015, the date when "Children's Day" is celebrated in Guatemala, a landslide buried a great part of the El Cambray II neighborhood, located in Santa Catarina Pinula, which left 280 dead bodies and 70 people missing. That night I was getting back from supporting another community where signs and symptoms of disorders related to trauma, especially in children, were reported due to the overflow of the Semuch river in early Agust of same year. 

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   According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V (DSM-V) by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) it can take up to six months for the symptoms to manifest before Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be accurately diagnosed, hindering mental health related interventions by specialized professionals in low-resource communities. It's necessary to consider that humanitarian support is sent almost immediately, and many of it lack a follow up protocol.

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   By choosing the children as protagonists, and combining photographs from different communities affected by natural phenomena, during and after,  I intend to emphasize the need of specialized mental health intervention and to represent the traces that a trauma not dealt with opportunely will generate in the psyche.

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Photographies from: El Cambray II, Santa Catarina Pinula, Guatemala; El Bongo Village, Izabal, Guatemala; Miguel Alemán Town, Sonora, Mexico; Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico; Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico.