Preparing children for emergencies:

When disasters occur, children are the most vulnerable group in our community and have special needs.

However, recent research also supports their potential motivational role in mobilising a community to prepare more effectively for natural disasters and other emergencies.

That’s according to one of the leaders of a new Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre project.

CQUniversity’s Professor Kevin Ronan says children feel less fearful “especially when they go home and talk to their parents about things their family can do to prepare and reduce risks to their homes and community.”

A new three-year project Building Best Practice in Child-Centred Disaster Risk Reduction will carry out research on current policy and practices. It will also increase attention given to children and their families’ needs in disasters.

The project is funded by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre and builds on preliminary research conducted in Australia, New Zealand and other countries around the globe.

Prof Ronan notes that, at present in Australia, we plan more for the needs of our animals than we do for our children.

“There is a growing body of research findings that have examined children’s needs before, during and after disasters,” Prof Ronan says. “Natural disasters are one of the major fears of childhood.  Many children feel unsettled when their homes are at risk of a bushfire, flood, cyclone or other event.

“We know many areas in Australia are affected by emergencies and disasters over and over and children are at the highest level of risk for experiencing severe reactions.”

Prof Ronan says research published over the past decade has shown that children are better equipped to deal with an emergency if they have been active participants in disaster resilience and education programs.

“Our current research is designed to evaluate both aspects; the extent that education can equip children and families and the extent that children can help mobilise a community to respond and recover more effectively from some unanticipated event.”