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Finding Ways to Keep U.S. Children Safe in Disasters
Watch KJRH Tulsa Video News Clip on Disaster Preparedness for US Children 
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During Save the Children's disaster preparedness workshop in Tulsa, Okla., children received a backpack filled with evacuation supplies such as a whistle, a hygiene kit and a teddy bear for comfort. Photo credit: Tom Gilbert |
Westport, CT (July 27, 2007) — Save the Children is turning to Tulsa, Oklahoma to help find better ways to keep children safe in disasters.
Save the Children announced earlier this week that it is granting $70,000 to the local nonprofit Tulsa Partners, Inc., to help prepare and protect children in fires, floods, tornadoes and other disasters.
The Tulsa Partners / Save the Children initiative will work with children and their families, teachers, child care providers, emergency response officials and community leaders over the coming year.
"We hope that what we learn in Tulsa through this partnership will benefit other communities across the nation," said J.R. Thomas, National Director of the Domestic Emergencies Unit for Save the Children.
"We know children face disproportionate risks in crises," Thomas said. "As Hurricane Katrina showed us, even in the United States children's unique needs are often forgotten in times of disaster. We're looking to Tulsa to help us develop prototype local preparedness programs that we can replicate nationally to make children a priority in every stage of emergency planning, response and recovery."
"We'll be targeting more than 500 children, their schools and 20 child care centers this year," said Steve Penrose, Chair of Tulsa Partners, Inc., a nonprofit agency using public-private partnerships to build a disaster-resistant community. "In an emergency, schools and child care centers are critical facilities; if parents can't have safe, caring places for their children, they can't get to work protecting and rebuilding the community. So we want to help the children, their schools, their child care centers and their families all stay safe."
The announcement came during a disaster preparedness workshop conducted by Save the Children and Tulsa Partners Inc. on Monday July 23 for children at the Crosstown Learning Center in Tulsa. This children's workshop is one of the activities that will be part of the pilot initiative over the coming year.
Among the Tulsa Partners / Save the Children initiative projects planned this year:
- Hold disaster-preparedness workshops and training for children, their teachers and families, and child care providers.
- Provide targeted children with safety materials, such as preparedness backpacks pre-packed with flashlights, water and other disaster-survival gear.
- Help child care centers and schools review their disaster risks and determine what can be done to reduce their risks, such as strengthening windows and doors, building a tornado SafeRoom or developing a flood evacuation plan.
- Help center providers develop survival plans so they can keep the children safe and keep their centers operating, even during or after a disaster.
- Test and evaluate programs to reduce disaster trauma.
- Work with neighborhoods to help link child care centers with surrounding support networks.
- Review community preparedness materials as they relate to children’s issues.
- Prepare and recommend a children’s disaster-safety annex that can be added to community emergency operations plans.
- Recommend ways that other communities can replicate the lessons learned in Tulsa.
Other prime partners in the Tulsa Partners / Save the Children initiative include the Child Care Resource Center; and Open for Businesssm, a business continuity planning project of the national nonprofit Institute for Business & Home Safety.
Learn more about Save the Children's emergency programs in the United States
Read about another major step to keep children safe following a U.S. disaster
