Washington Watch for Oct. 11, 2009

• By GERARD SHIELDS
• Advocate Washington bureau
• Published: Oct 11, 2009 - Page: 7B

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

The way Mark Shriver sees it, disaster planning officials throughout the nation have placed standards for treating pets in the wake of a catastrophe over the needs of nation’s most vulnerable citizens —  children.

The chairman of the National Commission on Children and Disasters delivered that message last week in an address to The National Press Club. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, when residents refused to leave their homes without their pets, federal government urged communities to adopt measures to ensure that pets are dealt with.

“If we can do it for dogs and cats, we can surely do it for kids,” Shriver said.

Shriver’s address came as the commission gets ready to release its report on children and disasters. Established two years ago under President George W. Bush, the commission has already said the report will call for making children a priority for the White House and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

National disaster planning should also be established by schools and day-care centers. The group also wants recovery officials to integrate mental- and behavioral-health training into disaster preparedness and response for children.

“During so many of these events, children have been left vulnerable because of a disaster-relief system that does not account for their unique needs,” Shriver said.

Shriver pointed out that after Hurricane Katrina, some children were not reunited with their parents for six months. In hurricanes Gustav and Ike, some shelters lacked supplies for children, including diapers, formula and cribs, he said.

Recent research showed, Shriver said, that only seven states had all child protection measures in place for schools and day-care centers in the event of disaster. This has occurred while 67 million children in the nation are in schools on any given day, separated from their parents.

Children have not been made a disaster-planning priority, Shriver said.

“Strangely and tragically, we’ve done little to make sure the youngest and most vulnerable of us are on the top of that list and not the bottom,” he said.

Shriver gave kudos to new FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, who has created a senior-level position in the agency to ensure that children’s needs are met at every stage of disasters in planning, response and recovery.

“Put it simply, Craig gets it,” Shriver said.

Fugate joined Shriver in addressing the club, noting that he learned firsthand about the needs of children in crisis when he served as a paramedic in Florida.