Natural Disasters blog #5

I am going to write about something very personal to me. Today at 2:30 central time, my aunt called me from California. She left me a very tearful message, "Sarah, I'm calling you to tell you that Aimee, Jason, and the kids are being evacuated from their home because of the wild fire that popped up near their house." When I talked to Aimee later in the afternoon, she told me that yes, they had packed up their cars and were told by a sheriffs officer that it was a mandatory evacuation and they should leave. They were still at home keeping it wet and when they see flames, they would be leaving to a friends house to stay until they can return safely. I asked her about their children. Ethan was already at the friends (she picked him up from school) and Faith was at home with her. Thinking about what I have in my house, I asked her what did she pack. All she said was pictures, our hard drive, cameras, important papers, and things that could not be replaced. I told her it would be very hard to determine what was important. All she said was that T.V's, beds, radios etc. could be bought again, but some things can't. This is a news clip of the fire. http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local-beat/Wildfire-Breaks-Out-Near-Moorpark-60310767.html

She stated that the kids schools were safe and they would be going to school like nothing has happened. But something has happened, they are temporarily homeless even though they have a place to sleep, it is not their home. I wonder what their schools are going to provide for those children who had to leave their homes. Are they going to provide the psychological and emotional support that they need or are they going to say oh well, you are in school, your fine, and we have to learn.

I started to think about what my district provided for our students before, during, and after the spring flood. We knew that we were going to have a flood and that it was going to be a big one, but as a school, we did not do much to help our stressful children. I saw a change in behaviors of my students that lived on the river, they were very fidgety, had a difficult time paying attention, and more worried about things. They would ask me questions that I had a difficult time answering (i.e. when the flood comes, what will happen). They would tell me how their parents emptied their basements to the top floors and how it is difficult to move around. For our disaster, schools was closed during the flooding. Our district opened up some of our schools for the National Guard to use. When school returned, I had a mixture of emotions from my students. Some where excited because they went to school in another town and others were scared to leave their parents since they had to leave both their home and their parents for safety. I don't know what our school did to provide psychological and emotional support for our students when school returned. Yes, they could go see the school counselor, but with how many the flood touched, one person could not do it all by themselves. As a teacher, I felt under trained to help my students. Our counselor did send out an article on signs/symptoms to watch for in children, but we had not real training.

My own children were touched by the flood also. Our own house was safe, but their grandparents and great-grandparents house had to be sand bagged. I moved into my grandparents house to watch the pumps 24/7 while my children were suffeled between their aunts and other grandparents house. When everything was done and back at home, my children seem fine until one night my daughter came and asked me if we will have to leave again and started to cry (this was for the second crest). All I could say was I hoped not and give her a big hug.

With all the types of natural disasters (flooding, fire, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes), you would think that the school system would be better prepared to help their students. We practice drills (tornado, fire, lockdowns) and are prepared for them, but not how it will hurt our students emotionally and psychologically. The following link will bring you to a resource for parents, teachers, and anyone working with children called What Happened to MY World? Helping Children Cope with Natural Disaster and Catastrophe. http://www.brighthorizons.com/talktochildren/docs/What_Happened_to_MY_world.pdf

I still feel that schools should train their teachers on what to do and how to act with their students after a disaster occurs whether the school is directly affected or not. Ethan and Faith's schools are not directly in the path of the fires, but they have at least two student that are affected by it. I hope that they will be given some support to help them through this time and not just give their teachers a pamphlet. All children deal with their own stress differently, it is our job as well as their parents and others to help them work through their stress of what is happeneing.