Give any group of 6-year-old children a set of coloured pens and a few sheets of paper and watch their eagerness to use them. However, in remote areas of Kashmir, where many children have never even seen a marker pen, the opportunity to “spoil” a clean sheet of paper with bright colours would be seized even more gleefully. What would be the reaction of children given this opportunity in the areas devastated by the earthquake of 2005? Art forms and the purposes they can serve have evolved along with mankind. What art means to people nowadays is entirely diff erent from its signifi cance in prehistoric times. Beautiful carvings, etchings, and sculptures were not merely decorative; they had a mythological basis and were believed to provide protection from the forces of nature. Primitive people depicted prey being struck down by weapons and believed that these symbols of good luck would aff ect their success in hunting—a form of positive visualisation. The importance of the paintings lay in their functional purpose of aiding the hunters, not in the skill of the painter or the beauty of the work. The contribution of Islamic civilisation to art is mainly in architecture and calligraphy, because Muslim theologians have argued that paintings of the human fi gure usurp the creative function of the Creator. However, there is no specifi c mention of this matter in the holy Quran. The message is avoidance of idolatry. Art therapy is part of the play therapy long used for children with mental-health problems. This approach arose from the process of exploring the unconscious mind, which has emphasised the importance of dreams and art therapy. Though diff erences exist in the interpretation of dreams and paintings, the focus has helped to develop art as a means of communication in education and in diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. On Oct 8, 2005, an earthquake of magnitude 7·6 on the Richter scale struck Kashmir and parts of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. Nearly 3·3 million people were aff ected. The disaster struck in the morning, when women were at home, children in school, and men out working in the fi elds. The major casualties were, therefore, women and young children. According to offi cial statistics, more than 100 000 people were killed and 75 000 injured, of whom between 10 000 and 15 000 were left disabled. Mental-health workers in the state and private sectors organised teams for the disaster zone, but they were inadequate to deal with the problem. Most of the groups that managed to reach the site decided to train local people in basic counselling skills. The Pakistan Association for Mental Health assembled a team. A manual was prepared that included techniques on active listening, grief counselling, and problem solving. The section for children included brief instructions about S Haroon Ahmed is a consultant psychiatrist in Karachi, Pakistan. He is chairman of the South Asian International Division of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and President of the Pakistan Association for Mental Health.