Many of the children who survived the Tai Po fire are still recovering. They react to sounds of alarms or sudden noises, and struggle with painful memories.
The blaze, which broke out at Wang Fuk Court on November 26 last year, raged for 43 hours. It killed 168 people and displaced nearly 5,000 residents.
Wong Shek-hung, director of Save the Children Hong Kong, said parents faced uncertainty over their future.
Still, affected residents are finding ways to cope.
Save the Children Hong Kong, together with a research team from Hong Kong Shue Yan University, has provided trauma-informed interventions to 153 affected children.
These include play therapy, in which staff guide pupils through games to express their feelings, relieve anxiety and rebuild a sense of security.
The expressive arts therapy uses media such as drawing and music to help pupils express emotions and improve mental resilience.
A study of 51 children who took part in play therapy and 23 who joined expressive arts therapy found that their anxiety levels fell by 85.7 per cent after play therapy.
The study also found that post-traumatic stress symptoms fell by 31.1 per cent among children who underwent play therapy and by 61.2 per cent among those who underwent expressive arts therapy.
Researchers said the findings showed that timely, professional mental health support could mitigate the impacts of trauma on children.
