In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

A new study released by the group Save The Children contends that only seven states are meeting crucial minimum standards to ensure that schools and child-care facilities are prepared to respond to the needs of children during a disaster.

The report, “The Disaster Decade: Lessons Unlearned for the United States.” reviewed four standards in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and found that only seven states – Arkansas, Maryland, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Alabama and Vermont – are meeting four key standards. The four key standards identified by Save the Children include evacuation and relocation, reunification and plans for special needs children at child-care facilities, as well as multi-hazard plans at schools.

Save the Children is calling for imediate action at the federal level to better protect children through a five-point plan:

*Establish national disaster preparedness standards for child-care centers and schools.
*Establish an Office of Children’s Advocacy at FEMA.
*To ensure child-care centers can rebuild and restore services more quickly following a disaster, make them eligible for federal disaster aid.
*Establish a White House Commission on the effects of the recession on children.
*Create a federal public awareness campaign to educate families about protecting children during disasters.

The full report can be found at http://savethechildren.org/disaster-decade-report. (Thanks to the National Hazards Center Twitter feed for bringing this to my attention.