PSYCHOLOGISTS are seeking survivors of the Garley Building inferno which killed 40 people almost two years ago.
Experts suspect that many could be suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, pushing their marriages and family relationships to breaking point and destroying their careers and studies.
Yau Ma Tei Child Psychiatric Centre psychologist Raymond Chan Won-shing said the team of Chinese University and Hospital Authority mental health professionals expected that about 15 per cent of people who survived the blaze could be still suffering from the disorder.
'It varies from study to study, but 15 per cent is a conservative estimate,' Mr Chan said.
'We want to find out whether people, if they still have problems, are receiving services or whether they are suffering in the dark.
'Also, we hope to find some of the personal and social factors which mean some people are more resilient.' Post-traumatic stress disorder develops in about 30 to 40 per cent of people after a particularly traumatic event.
'From time to time they experience the event again - it intrudes into their mind or they have bad dreams,' Mr Chan said.