Do you remember last October, when a tremendous storm hit
the East Coast? It rained and flooded and made a huge mess? In most parts of
Maryland, Virginia, and DC, where I’m located, we had the inconvenience of
power outages, school closings, and Halloween being put on hold. Further north,
homes and lives were devastated when Sandy dumped massive amounts of rain on
New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. I remember friends in New York packing
up their families and relocating until the water subsided or not being able to
get to parts of the city because it was flooded. When I was there in the
spring, someone mentioned how some of the subway stations were still being
repaired from the water damage.
And still, there are families trying to recover from the
damage that Sandy did to their homes and to their lives. And the littlest of
these is the children.
Save the Children is a national organization that works to
make sure that our children are safe in natural disasters. Whether Hurricane
Katrina, or Sandy, or tornadoes here in the United States, or tsunamis or
earthquakes around the world. They
recognize that the mental and physical needs of children in traumatic
situations are different than those of adults. They are purposed to specifically respond to the children’s
needs.
Save the Children wants families to be prepared for a
natural disaster in their area.
What happens if tonight, torrential storms sweep through your city and
you have to evacuate your home? Are you ready to go? What happens if an earthquake shakes your hometown while you
are at work? Is your child’s school or childcare provider prepared to take care
of your child until you can safely retrieve them? Does your state meet the four
basic standards to protect children from disaster in schools and child
care? Save the Children’s recently
released 2013 disaster report card reveals that most states still fail to meet
these standards.
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| Is your child's daycare or school prepared for an emergency? |
Save the Children is calling on Americans to take action
to protect children – by preparing their own families and by supporting
improved policies.
Downloadable family and caregiver emergency checklists are available through the organization’s Get
Ready. Get Safe. initiative. Visitors can also find their state’s disaster report card results with an option to write their governor and a video showing Sandy’s impact on children.
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| Pack your emergency kit and keep it somewhere easy to reach. |
Download and print the checklists for your home, and share
with your caregiver, day care provider, or school. Then take the next step and
actually make the emergency kits for your home, so you will be prepared in case
of an emergency. I have mine packed in a plastic storage box in my garage; I've included a flashlight and an old plug into the wall phone, in case the power goes out but phone service is still available. Now, writing this post, it's my own reminder to go check my supplies and make sure the kids haven't been playing flashlight tag or stole all the batteries.
Maybe, hopefully, you won’t suffer a tragedy like Katrina or
Sandy in your area. Perhaps, it will just be an ice storm when winter hits. But
when the power goes out or the roads are closed, don’t you want to be ready?
Information, photos, and logos for this post provided by Save the Children.
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