Will You Be Prepared When Disaster Strikes? #SaveTheChildren
Every year, thousands of people face the unimaginable due to hurricanes,, flooding, earthquakes and more but the real question is Will You Be Prepared When Disaster Strikes?
Today, October 29 is the 2-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy’s U.S. landfall. Sandy affected 24 states, killed 162 people, caused more than $50 million in damage and damaged or destroyed 650,000 homes and hundreds of child care centers and schools. It was the day that life turned upside down for thousands of children who suddenly lost everything – including their very sense of stability. Save the Children is still working with many of these children to help them rebound.
Losing your entire sense of stability at such a young age can be devastating. Save the Children’s Journey of Hope program allows children to express their feelings and learn critical coping skills that allow them to bounce back and more forward. Without adequate support, children often fall permanently behind in school while they grapple with intense sadness, depression and anger. Two years after Hurricane Sandy, Save the Children continues our work with children in the hardest-hit communities in New York and New Jersey.
Here is a recent picture of children from New York City’s Lower East Side expressing their feelings through drawing in Save the Children’s Journey of Hope program:
This picture goes back to shortly after Sandy, with 4-year-old Didi in Save the Children’s “Child-Friendly Space” at a NJ shelter:
Help motivate families to get prepared, so that children are better protected from disaster.
– Save the Children’s recent poll shows that 49% of U.S. parents don’t feel the very prepared to protect their children from disaster.
– 51% don’t think their child’s school or child care center is very prepared either.
– A whopping 74% of parents don’t think the federal government is prepared to protect their kids should disaster strike!
How can you help prepare and protect your families in times of need? Check out these great videos and pages that will help you to be ready to handle a disaster if you should ever find yourself in that situation:
1) 30-second Lassie video encouraging families to “pack and prepare.”
2) 90-second animated video encouraging reunification planning. Our survey shows that 42% of parents don’t know where to find their children if evacuated from school or child care!
3) Disaster plan checklists for families and a child’s school/child care.
– Find them and more here: Checklists to Help You Prepare In the Event Diaster Strikes
4) Infographic with key stats from Save the Children’s 2014 Disaster Report Card and poll of US parents
5) See how your state does in protecting children from disaster while they’re in school or child care.
6) Sign our pledge to protect children from disaster and encourage your followers to do the same. We’ll share this with your state government if it doesn’t meet our disaster report card preparedness standards for schools and child care.
Investing in our children ensures our future, and theirs
Save the Children Save the Children invests in childhood –every day, in times of crisis and for our future.
