More focus sought on children in disasters
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Government hurricane recovery efforts spend more time and money on pets than children, a U.S. Senate subcommittee on disaster planning heard Tuesday.
Meanwhile, on a state level, the Department of Social Services Secretary Kristy Nichols said her agency would better address children’s needs and avoid the problems that haunted hurricane evacuations in the past.
“We know today that when people get off the bus and get to a shelter, they need a shower, then they need to have basic services, basic hygiene met,” Nichols said Tuesday.
Emergency shelters for the next hurricane would provide more immediate access to medical care, showers and toilets, she said.
After Hurricane Gustav hit last year, evacuees complained that some state shelters lacked adequate showers, toilets and other sanitation needs; ran short of food and water; and had poor communication between the agency and local officials.
Nichols said a major part of any plan is working in concert with vendors and knowing when to “pull the trigger” on resources. Last year, leaders felt they had more time and evacuees wouldn’t need a certain level of service when they arrived, she said.
The state now plans to call in contractors four to five days before tropical-force winds hit the coast, Nichols said. Vendors are to come with their own staffs so DSS employees can focus on other needs, she said.
The state will run seven shelters for people who rely on the government to provide evacuation transportation and 11 shelters for people with special medical needs, Nichols said. The American Red Cross could be running up to 17 of its own emergency shelters.
Many parishes that are likely to be evacuated have partnered with other “host parishes” to receive their residents for sheltering, Nichols said. That leads to better information between local officials and their residents, she said.
Shelters will be pre-stocked with a three-day supply of ready-to-eat meals, water and comfort kits, Nichols said. Televisions and phone banks will also be available.
A U.S. Senate subcommittee in Washington, D.C., chaired by U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., heard testimony about how poorly prepared the nation is to handle children during a disaster.
Members of the National Commission on Children and Disasters told the U.S. Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Disaster Recovery that children affected by disasters do not receive adequate education, mental health or “case management” services.
Commission chairman Mark Shriver said while children make up 25 percent of the population, state and federal governments have spent more time and money on the needs of pets in disaster planning.
“That’s absolutely ridiculous,” said Shriver, who is also vice president of Save the Children, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Westport, Conn.
The U.S. Congress organized the commission to develop a national plan to guide the long-term recovery from disasters.
Shriver recommended revising the Stafford Act, the federal law that governs disaster recovery. The act should make child care an essential service, he said.
The federal government should require child care centers to have comprehensive hazard plans, including evacuation, relocation, reunification with family, and accommodation of special needs children, Shriver testified.
Another member of the commission, Irwin Redlener, said a national disaster recovery plan mandated by Congress in 2006 has yet to appear. He later added that the committee should request that FEMA complete the plan by the end of the year.
Redlener is president of the Children’s Health Fund, a national network of pediatric programs headquartered in New York City.
Redlener also criticized the “case management” process. “Case management” is the way government and nonprofits identify needs and provide services for affected families. Services could include housing, health care and jobs.
“I had to medicate myself in order to absorb the complexity and dysfunctionality of what our country calls case management in the aftermath of this disaster,” he said. “It’s shameful.”
The process was so fragmented and disorganized that many families slipped through the cracks, Redlener said.
Cynthia Bascetta, health-care director for the U.S. Government Accountability Office, said the two main barriers to case management were the lack of providers and referral services, and breaks in funding.
Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Craig Fugate said he is putting together a “working group” focused on children and their unique needs during and after a disaster.
“FEMA’s not the team. FEMA’s part of a team,” Fugate said. “And I think we have to do a better partnership with our federal partners where they have the expertise in how these programs need to be delivered and the needs we’re going to face, particularly when talking about children.”
But, Landrieu said, FEMA is the leader of the team.
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