Yu Xiaoming sits on a wooden bench, flanked by his two best friends. His white-and-blue striped shirt is incongruous with the shack his family lives in.

Yu had worn this shirt for his only sister, who bought it for him while she was still alive. On Aug. 18, torrential mudslides swallowed an iron mine factory where his sister worked as a cook, burying her.

It will take some time for the 16-year-old to heal. His father passed away soon after he was born. And now, the loss of another loved one in a family of four is too much for the introverted 16-year-old to deal with.

Yang Zhenmei, a volunteer psychology counselor from the provincial capital Kunming, traveled 930 km to the disaster area to offer help for young people like Yu.

She held a brief psychological intervention session with the boy, had patient conservations with him and told him to refrain from aggressive behavior. She also told him to call her if he feels overwhelmed by difficulties.

But not many people are as lucky as Yu, who receives the kind of psychological services rarely seen in Litoudi Village, a remote mountainous village in China's southwest Yunnan Province, which borders Myanmar. In a village with a population of a little more than 150, medical resources are scarce.

Litoudi Village has only one doctor. Usually, local residents have to travel seven km to be treated in a hospital at the township seat of Puladi.

Soon after the mudslides, about 130 doctors and nurses from Gongshan and Fugong Counties rushed to the scene, though none of them had previously received psychological training, except for a handful of doctors who had taken psychology courses back in college.

Moreover, the focus of the medical services in the immediate aftermath was on treating the injured, helping rescuers with minor injuries and preventing outbreaks of diseases.

Authorities have said 92 people were killed or remain missing following the massive mudslides that swept the village.

Torrents of mud and gigantic stones smashed and buried the Yujin Iron Mine and about 10 civilian residences at 1:30 AM Wednesday. Most of the victims were local residents and migrant workers at the Yujin Iron Mine.

The government has not released the number of people needing psychological assistance in the village. The village population is about l50, though some 380 relatives of the victim have temporarily settled into 20 tents or villagers' homes. "The number of people suffering psychological wounds and prone to having extreme actions is small. It's a mudslide and the chances of survival are slim. If people did not have extreme reactions in the first two days, they will somehow accept reality." volunteer counselor Yang said.

However, she still suggests creating a mid- and-long term plan to help local residents, by which she meant to train some villagers or young people as volunteers and help local residents suffering from stress brought on by the loss of loved ones.

Unlike the situation following the magnitude-8.0 Sichuan earthquake in 2008, when thousands of volunteer counselors and psychological experts went to the quake-devastated zone to offer help, only about 300 volunteers came to Litoudi Village.

Most volunteers had helped with logistics, Yang said, adding she did not meet any volunteer with psychological counseling backgrounds.

"Psychological counseling is needed. In one case, I met one or two people who became violent and aggressive after losing their family members here."

But psychological counseling is a luxury for the mudslides' survivors or victims' relatives.

Such a service is not a thriving business, even in Kunming, capital of the hinterland province of Yunnan. The cost of psychological services range from 30 yuan to more than 200 yuan per hour there, according to Yang.

However, the average annual per capita net income of villagers at Gongshan County, which administers Litoudi Village, stood at 1,325 yuan (US$195) last year. And psychological counseling is something that villagers rarely experienced.

Psychological counseling services have only mushroomed on the Chinese mainland over the past few years, as the Chinese are facing increasing pressure as a result of lifestyle changes following rapid economic development. The Sichuan Earthquake, which have affected tens of thousands of households, has also prompted the public to become more aware of their mental health.

However, psychological counseling is more common in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, and even hospitals at provincial capital cities such as Kunming are falling short of psychologists, said Bi Haiyan, a doctor with the No.2 People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, who came to the village to offer assistance.

So far, people have generally shown two symptoms of mental stress in the mudslides area, according to psychology counselors Yang, where she has visited about 20 households in the village.

"Victims' relatives desperately want to bid farewell to their beloved ones, while local villagers fear it is not safe to live in their homes."

Signs of mental stress are found in the village, but are not widespread.

The mudslides buried Lin Guangxiu's husband and a truck the family used to transport iron ore. Lin fell into a faint upon hearing the news and refused to eat or drink for five days. Lin lived on medical fluids and reluctantly ate a little on Sunday evening after being persuaded by doctors and volunteers. She still sobs bitterly at the slightest mention of her husband.

About 200 meters away from the mudslides site, a paper was pasted on a wooden shack detailing information of body features and showing pictures of some victims who have been recovered . People in groups of three or four gathered in front of the shack to look for any clue that might lead them to find their relatives. Some stare blankly.

Despite limited resources, authorities were thoughtful when it comes to soothing emotional victims' relatives and villagers traumatized by the disaster.

A working group, composed of a small number of soldiers, doctors and local people of influence, were assigned the task of comforting emotional mudslide survivors or victims' relatives.

More than 50 doctors took on the additional tasks of comforting desperate relatives, in addition to providing medical services.

And fellow villagers are being helpful. Offering mutual help has long been a tradition observed in the village, where most inhabitants are members of the Nu, Drung and Lisu ethnic minorities. After the mudslides, villagers continue to visit survivors, contributing rice and beer to mudslides-hit families and help bury victims.

Yu, who lost his sister, said he "felt better" after he had short conversations with the volunteers who came to his home. He said the volunteers inquired about his living conditions and schoolwork, and made him feel warm.

And he said he gained some confidence to face the future when the neighborhood and his uncle pledged support for his mother and himself. "I will work hard. I want to go to college and become a school teacher." he said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2010)