The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of psycho-social problems among all tsunami survivors, with five to 10 percent of them expected to have intense psychiatric problems requiring expert care.

"We expect everyone who was affected by the tsunami to be suffering from some kind of psycho-social problem," WHO's Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Benedetto Saraceno told reporters here Friday.

The UN agency estimates that 40 to 50 percent of the population affected by the disaster would have intense psycho-social reaction and another five to 10 percent psychiatric problems.

However, not all of the affected require psychiatric interventions, said Saraceno, who arrived here after spending two weeks in Indonesia, one of the worst affected by the Dec 26 tsunami.

His assessment was based on feedback from WHO mental health expert teams sent to the affected areas in tsunami-affected Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. No appraisal was conducted in India.

Stating that the problems were largely a result of people losing money and material to the tragedy, he suggested providing economic support to the affected population.

"Good money equals good mental health. Material life and economic life is a vital part of mental health. Mental health is also related to health," he said, calling for support including micro-credit initiatives for the displaced.

Saraceno said only five to 10 percent of the survivors facing psychiatric problems require medical intervention like diagnosis, psychological management and medications.

Having said that, he stressed the need for mental health care to shift from hospitals to the community by including community leaders as an agent to help people cope with the loss.

More than 280,000 people, including over 10,000 in India, were killed by the tsunami, which displaced hundreds of thousands of people in South and Southeast Asia.