12/24/2021
Helping Children Cope with Disaster
Children can feel very frightened during a disaster and afterwards
some children will show temporary changes of behavior.
For most children these changes will be mild, not last long,
and diminish with time. However, reminders of what happened
could cause upsetting feelings to return and behavior changes to
emerge again. Watching scenes of the disaster on television can be
distressing for children, especially for younger children.
Younger children may return to bed-wetting, have difficulty sleeping, and not want to be separated from their caregivers. Older children may show more anger than usual, find concentrating at school harder, and want to spend more time alone than usual.
Some children are more vulnerable, and their reactions can be more severe and last for a longer period of time.
Factors that contribute to greater vulnerability include:
Direct exposure to the disaster
This includes being evacuated, seeing injured or dying
people, being injured themselves, and feeling that their own
lives are threatened.
Personal loss
This includes the death or serious injury of a family member,
close friend, or family pet.
On-going stress from the secondary effects of disaster
This includes temporarily living elsewhere, losing contact with their friends and neighbors, losing things that are important to them, parental job loss, and the financial costs of reestablishing their previous living conditions.
Prior exposure to disaster or other traumatic event.
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How parents and caregivers react to and cope with a disaster or
emergency situation can affect the way their children react. When
parents and caregivers or other family members are able to deal with the situation calmly and confidently, they are often the best source of support for their children. One way to help children feel more confident and in control is to involve them in preparing a family disaster plan (refer to page 7).
CHILDREN’S REACTION TO DISASTER
The following are common reactions that children may exhibit
following a disaster. While the following descriptions are typical,
some children may exhibit none of these behaviors and others may
behave in ways not mentioned here.
BIRTH THROUGH 6 YEARS
Although infants may not have words to describe their experiences, they can retain memories. They may react by being more irritable, crying more than usual, or wanting to be held and cuddled more.
Preschool and kindergarten children can feel helpless, powerless,
and frightened about being separated from their caregivers.
7 THROUGH 10 YEARS
Older children can understand the permanence of loss. They may become preoccupied with the details of the traumatic event and want to talk about it continually.
This preoccupation can interfere with their concentration at school and affect their academic performance. Children may hear inaccurate information from their peers which parents can clarify. They may fear that the disaster will happen again and have sad or angry feelings.
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11 THROUGH 18 YEARS
As children mature, their responses become more similar to those of adults. Much of adolescence is focused on moving out into the world. Following a disaster, that world can seem more dangerous and unsafe. Teenagers may react by becoming involved in angerous, risk-taking behaviors, such as reckless driving, and alcohol or drug use. Others may become fearful of leaving home and avoid social activity.
Teenagers can feel overwhelmed by their intense emotions, yet unable to talk about them.
WHAT PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS CAN DO
It is important for parents and other caregivers to understand what is causing a child’s anxieties and fears. Following a disaster, children
are most afraid that:
The event will happen again.
Someone close to them will be killed or injured.
They will be left alone or separated from their family.
Parents and caregivers can
clarify misunderstandings of risk
and danger by acknowledging
children’s concerns and perceptions.
Discussions of preparedness plans
can strengthen a child’s sense of
safety and security.
Listen to what a child is saying. If a
young child asks questions about the
event, answer them simply without
the elaboration needed for an older
child or adult. Children vary in the
amount of information they need 4
and can use. If a child has diffi culty expressing his or her thoughts
and feelings, then allowing them to draw a picture or tell a story of
what happened may help.
Parents and Caregivers Can Take the Following Actions:
Encourage your children to talk and listen to their
concerns.
Calmly provide factual information about the disaster and
plans for insuring their ongoing safety.
Involve your children in updating your family disaster plan
and disaster supplies kit (refer to pages 7-9)
Practice your plan.
Involve your children by giving them specific tasks to let
them know they can help restore family and community
life.
Spend extra time with your children.
Re-establish daily routines for work, school, play, meals,
and rest.
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MONITOR AND LIMIT YOUR FAMILY’S EXPOSURE TO THE MEDIA
News coverage of the disaster can cause fear, confusion and anxiety in children. This is particularly true for a large-scale disaster or terrorist event, in which significant property damage and loss of life has occurred. Especially for younger children, repeatedly watching images of an event can cause them to believe the
event is occurring again and again.
Parents and caregivers should be available to encourage communication and provide explanations when children are permitted to watch television or use the Internet if images or
news about the disaster are being shown.
Parents can also limit their own exposure to anxiety provoking information.
Use Support Networks
Parents and caregivers can best help children when they understand their own feelings and have developed ways of coping themselves.
One way of doing this is to build and use social support systems of
family, friends, community organizations, faith-based institutions
or other resources. In the event a disaster strikes, they can call on
these support systems to help them manage their reactions. In turn,
parents and caregivers are more available and better able to support their children.
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If a child continues to be very upset by what happened or if
reactions interfere with their school work or their relationships at
home or with their friends, it may be appropriate to talk with the
child’s primary care physician or a mental health provider who
specializes in children’s needs.
PREPARE YOUR FAMILY
Preparing for disaster helps everyone in the family accept the fact
that disasters do happen, and that they can do something about it.
Families should work together to identify and collect the resources
needed to meet basic needs during and after disaster. When people feel prepared, they cope better.
Take the following actions with your family to get prepared:
Get Informed
Call your local emergency management office or local
American Red Cross chapter and ask about the specific
hazards in your community and about your risk to those
hazards. Also learn about community response plans,
evacuation plans and routes, community warning systems,
and nearby buildings that are designated as disaster
shelters.
Learn about the emergency plans and procedures that exist
in places you and your family spend time. Priority locations
include places of employment, schools, and childcare centers.
Create a Family Disaster Plan
Discuss with your family the hazards that could impact
your local area, the potential for community evacuation or
sheltering, and your community’s warning systems and what
to do if they are used.
Determine where to meet in the event of an emergency.
Designate one location right outside your home in case of a
sudden emergency, like a fire, and another location outside
your neighborhood in case you can't return home.
Ask an out-of-town friend or relative to be your emergency
contact. Following a disaster, family members should call
this person and tell them where they are.
Make a communication plan where all family members
know how to contact each other. A form for recording
this information can be found at www.ready.gov
- or at www.redcross.org/contactcard.
Include provisions for your pets in your family disaster plan.
Practice the plan.
Once you have developed your plan, you need to practice and
maintain it. For example, ask questions to make sure your family
remembers meeting places, phone numbers, and safety rules.
Conduct routine fire and emergency evacuation drills, test fire
alarms, and replace and update disaster supplies.
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Assemble a disaster supplies kit
Every household should assemble a disaster supplies kit and keep
in up to date. A disaster supplies kit can help your family stay safe
and be more comfortable during and after a disaster. Though local
officials and relief workers will be on the scene after a disaster,
they cannot reach everyone immediately. Also, if you need to
evacuate at a moment’s notice you probably will not have the
opportunity to shop or search for the supplies you and your family
will need.
Pack disaster supplies in an easy-to-carry container, such as a
duffel bag or backpack and label the container clearly.
Ask your children to think of items that they would like to
include in the kit, such as books, games or nonperishable
snack food items.
Include such items as:
Three-day supply of non-perishable food and manual can opener.
Three-day supply of water (one gallon of water per person per
day).
Portable, battery-powered radio or television and extra
batteries.
Flashlights and extra batteries.
First aid kit and first aid manual.
Photocopies of credit cards and identification cards.
Sanitation and hygiene items (hand sanitizer, moist towelettes
and toilet paper).
Matches in a waterproof container.
Whistle.
Clothing, blankets, kitchen accessories and cooking utensils.
Special needs items, such as prescription medications, spare
eye-glasses, hearing aid batteries.
Items for infants, such as formula, diapers, bottles and pacifiers.
Tools, pet supplies, a map of the local area, and other items to
meet your unique family needs.
Ask your children to help you remember to keep your kit
updated by marking dates on a calendar to regularly review
and update your kit.
Consider having emergency supplies in each vehicle and at
your place of employment.
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