Keeping Them Safe
Save The Children has just published a report, “A National Report Card on Protecting Children During Disasters”, which finds that five years after Hurricane Katrina displaced more than 160,000 children in the Gulf Coast, most states are not fully prepared to protect children in disasters. Fewer than one-quarter of the states have implemented the four basic safeguards to protect children who are in school or child care during disasters, which are:
- A plan for evacuating children from childcare
- A plan for protecting children with special needs
- A plan for evacuating children from schools and
- A plan for reunifying children with their parents after the disaster
Now is the time to follow up with your child’s school to make sure that they have plans in place and that you know what they are. Only twelve states, including Mississippi and Alabama, met all four requirements.