FEMA focuses on kids
Image from FEMA
FEMA administrator, Craig Fugate, announced recently the agency will create a group that will focus on the needs of children during times of an emergency called “Children’s Working Group”.
“The working group will allow FEMA and its partners to explore and implement planning and response strategies specific to children throughout the agency and ensure that during a disaster the unique needs of children are not only considered, but fully integrated into how FEMA administers this support to states and the public.”
FEMA will work with the National Commission on Children and Disasters and will focus on helping plan appropriate evacuation plans that will include topics about sheltering and relocating children. Childcare centers, child welfare programs, and schools will also be included in this plan.
“The Bush administration rewrote this national disaster plan after Hurricane Katrina. The new 82-page plan, issued in January 2008, does not include the word ‘children,’ but it does mention pets. That plan, however, is supplemented by more than 200 pages of annexes, which do address children’s needs, though not in depth.”
The following links have been created by FEMA for children, parents, and teachers:
- FEMA’s Ready Kids
- FEMA for Kids
- Resources for parents and teachers
- How to become a Disaster Action Kid
- Publications available to children
Learn about how you and your family can create an emergency disaster kit.
Tags: emergency preparedness, Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, National Commission on Children and Disasters
