DISASTER PREPAREDNESS FOR CHILDREN Russell C. Coile, Ph.D., CEM Emergency Program Manager, Pacific Grove Fire Department 600 Pine Avenue, Pacific Grove, California 93950-3317 USA Tel: 831 648-3110, Fax: 831 648-3107, e-mail: russell@coile.com ABSTRACT Disaster preparedness for children starts with disaster preparedness for parents. Parents are encouraged to come to our Fire Department for preparedness literature and to visit their local American Red Cross chapter and ask to see some of the extensive disaster educational materials. There are numerous pertinent publications and videos on earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, chemical emergencies, floods, tornadoes, heat waves, thunderstorms, and winter storms. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has cooperated with the Red Cross in the preparation of many of these publications. The Red Cross has brochures, videos, children's workbooks, instructor's manuals, posters, booklets, hurricane tracking charts, guides, and coloring books in English. Many of these are also available in Spanish, and other languages. Parents should read some of these publications and discuss disaster preparedness with their children. The Pacific Grove Fire Department has a special program of disaster preparedness for children in our elementary schools. The program uses earthquakes and fires as illustrative examples for teaching kindergartners, first, and seconds graders the basic principles of disaster preparedness. The parents get involved because the fire department gives earthquake literature to the children to take home along with a letter asking the parents to read and discuss preparedness with their children. Earthquakes, for example, may be frightening for both children and adults, but being prepared both physically and mentally should help in reduction of fears. A specially designed teaching tool is used for this disaster preparedness program. The Fire Department has an earthquake and fire safety trailer which it takes to an elementary school. The trailer looks like a two story House (built to the scale of the height of an average six-year old child). A group of ten children, accompanied by a fireman instructor, go into the downstairs living room and listen to a talk on earthquake safety in the home. They learn why bookcases and hot water heaters should be bolted to the wall studs, how to run and tell their mother if the fireplace screen were to fall over while there was a fire in the fireplace, etc. The children take turns practicing telephoning 9-1-1 to report a pretend emergency (actually, a second fireman instructor in the control room of the trailer answers and asks them the same questions a real 9-1-1 operator would ask). In order to involve the parents, the children are given appropriate earthquake and fire safety literature to take home with a note asking the parents to read and discuss preparedness with them. The children also take home a letter inviting the parents to take a free six-week neighborhood emergency response team training program. This program teaches earthquake preparedness in the home, how to keep people injured in an earthquake from bleeding to death, firefighting and how to rescue earthquake victims. Junior high school students may study science courses developed with National Science Foundation support which use disasters. For example, students study hurricanes as an introduction to meteorology. Senior high school students are invited to take training and join neighborhood emergency response teams along with their parents. INTRODUCTION Disaster preparedness for children starts with disaster preparedness for parents. Disaster preparedness for children also means disaster preparedness for older children who are role models, grandparents, and for the children's child-care providers. In addition, disaster preparedness for children means disaster preparedness for the children's teachers in schools. Perhaps someday children will learn all they ever need to know from the Internet, but until that day come along, we should plan on children learning initially from their mothers, fathers, grandparents, older brothers and sisters, and day-care providers until they begin school. Then there will be a twelve-year period when teachers at their schools try to impart knowledge and prepare children for living or more schooling. Consequently, to prepare children for disasters, we must first prepare the parents and then persuade parents to teach preparedness to their children as well as set good examples. DISASTER PREPAREDNESS FOR EARTHQUAKES California has experienced two earthquakes and a variety of other disasters such as floods and large fires during recent years. A system of disaster preparedness for earthquakes has evolved in Pacific Grove since earthquakes provide such a convenient scenario - no warning, damage to homes and business buildings, damage to streets and highways, no electricity, no telephone, no gas, no water, no sewer system, etc. An individual should consider disaster preparations he or she might do at home, at the office, and en route in a automobile. Next the individual might consider what disaster preparedness measures would be appropriate for his or her family and what to teach children to prepare them for disasters. Disaster preparedness must start with individuals assuming more responsibility for their own preparedness and response. If and when a BIG earthquake occurs, the usual police, fire and public works departments will be overwhelmed. Ideally, each individual should consider what is feasible, prudent and cost-effective to do to prepare for disasters and include all family members, especially children, in this preparedness process. THE ROLE OF PARENTS IN TEACHING YOUNG CHILDREN ABOUT DISASTERS How should parents, grandparents, and child-care providers learn about disaster preparedness? One way would be for them to visit their local American Red Cross chapter and ask to see some disaster educational materials. There are numerous pertinent publications and videos on earthquakes, fires, chemical emergencies, floods, tornadoes, heat waves, hurricanes, thunderstorms, and winter storms. The Red Cross has prepared 99 different brochures, videos, children's workbooks, instructor's manuals, posters, booklets, hurricane tracking charts, guides, and coloring books in English. Many of these are also available in Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Tagalog. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has cooperated in the preparation of many of these publications. For example, some of these educational materials are: Earthquake-Fire-Winter Storm (ARC 5017). Target audience: children age 5-8. Be Ready 1-2-3 Workbook which is an 8 page workbook that helps children learn about home fires, earthquakes, and winter storms through activities and demonstrations led by "experts" Cool Cat (home fires), Ready Rabbit (winter storms) and Disaster Dog (earthquakes). There is an Instructor's Manual (ARC 5018) for parents, teachers and day-care providers with lesson plans. There is also a "How To" Guide (ARC 5019) which contains information on the supplies needed for each lesson. Earthquake! Do Something! (ARC 4004). Target audience: Age 8 to adult. This is a13-minute video for parents to show to their children which reinforces family emergency planning, safety during an earthquake, and dealing with injuries and damage after an earthquake. Also available in Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Tagalog. Are You Ready for an Earthquake? (ARC 4455). Brochure for parents to discuss with their children which provides essential earthquake information and poses interactive questions, encouraging family disaster planning and preparedness. Adventures of the Disaster Dudes (ARC 5024). Target audience: children age 8-12. Video-based program with a Presenter's Guide, and a 14-minute video. The video features children describing what a disaster really is, information on the correct response and how to create a family disaster plan. Disaster Preparedness Coloring Book (ARC 2200). Target audience: children age 3-10. Coloring book for children and their parent or day-care provider to discuss disasters that can happen and ways to get ready for them. Your Family Disaster Plan (ARC 4466). Brochure for parents to discuss with their children - the four steps to disaster safety: finding out what can happen; planning; preparing; and practicing. Disaster Supplies Kit (ARC 4463). Brochure for parents to discuss with children which gives information on how to assemble a Disaster Supplies Kit and a checklist for items to place in it. Family Disaster Plan/Supplies Kit Video (ARC 4498). Video for parents and children to watch which shows how to create a disaster plan (13 min) and a disaster supplies kit (8 min), why each is important, and which stresses individual and family preparedness measures. Emergency Preparedness Checklist (ARC 4471). Brochure for parents to discuss with their children which helps families examine ways to prepare each household member and their home for disasters. Helping Children Cope With Disaster. (ARC 4499). Brochure for parents, teachers, and day-care providers which gives information on helping children prrepare for and cope with disasters. Covers disaster preparedness activities in which children can join in, and how to help children recover from and understand disaster. Pets and Disaster: Get Prepared (Developed with the Humane Society of U.S. - 321355). Brochure for parents to discuss with their children which covers having a pet plan, suggested pet disaster supplies, what to do when a disaster threatens, and suggested alternatives since pets are not allowed in shelters. Parents should read some of these publications and discuss possible scenarios with their children. Look at the videos together. Consider which types of disasters might occur in local area and what might be the prudent things to prepare for. A family plan should be developed with all participating. An out-of-state relative or friend should be selected and everyone given the telephone number to help in reuniting the family after a big disaster. All children should be shown how to dial 9-1-1, when to do so and told what kind of questions the operator will ask them. The whole family should participate in deciding what types of disaster supplies should be obtained and where they should be stored. Help the children memorize important family information such as family name, address, and phone number. Small children may need to carry a card with appropriate information. If the children know something about the various types of disasters and what might happen, it will help prepare them for the possibility that they may need to sleep for a few nights in a Red Cross shelter or go camping or do something out of the ordinary because of the hurricane, flood or earthquake damage. Therefore, parents might well follow the advice given by the Red Cross: 1) learn what hazards exist in your community and how to prepare for them. 2) meet with the entire family to discuss what you would do in each situation and develop a family plan. 3) take appropriate action with all family members participating to assemble an emergency supply kit for each, install smoke-detectors, select an out-of-state telephone contact, and give emergency telephone numbers to each family member. 4) practice the family plan so that everyone will remember what to do when a disaster does occur. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PROGRAMS The elementary schools in Pacific Grove are fortunate. The State's Office of Emergency Services supports school programs on disaster preparedness with which all teachers are involved. In addition, the Pacific Grove Fire Department has an Earthquake and Fire Safety trailer. This teaching tool can be brought to each school so that all the kindergartners, first and second graders can be taught appropriate earthquake and fire safety preparedness in conjunction with the teacher's own preparedness teaching projects. As a matter of fact, this trailer is not only for Pacific Grove schools. The Northern California Disaster Preparedness Network was given some of the American Red Cross money received in California for earthquake victims and earthquake preparedness after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake to disburse for worthwhile projects. The Pacific Grove Fire Department received its grant from the Tri-County (Monterey-San Benito-Santa Cruz) Disaster Preparedness Committee to obtain the teaching trailer for use by schools in all the cities of the three counties. For example there are twelve cities in Monterey County. All of the fire departments in the three counties were invited to send firemen to free train-the-trainer classes in Pacific Grove so that they could have qualified instructors to teach children in their home areas. The trailer has also been demonstrated at county fairs and other events to publicize its availability. The trailer looks like a two-story house. It is a two-story house, but it is built to the scale of the height of an average six year old child - adults can crawl around inside on their hands and knees. A group of ten children, accompanied by a fireman instructor, go into the downstairs living room and listen to a talk on earthquake safety in the home. They learn why bookcases and hot water heaters should be bolted to wall studs, how to run and tell their mother if the fireplace screen were to fall over while there was a fire in the fireplace, etc. The children take turns practicing telephoning 9-1-1 to report a pretend emergency. Actually, a second fireman instructor in the trailer's control room answers the phone and asks them the same questions a real 9-1-1 operator would ask. After the children are upstairs on the second floor in a bedroom, the instructor asks one of the children to get in bed and pretend to be asleep. Then the control room fireman simulates a fire in the bedroom by releasing dense (theatrical, non-toxic) smoke which activates a smoke detector alarm. The child is taught to roll out of bed and crawl to a door - "Never stand up and run!". They are also taught "Never open a door without feeling it!" - to find out if it is hot because of fire on the other side of the door. The control room fireman can make the door hot so that the children learn not to open it and then must find an alternate way out of the bedroom. In fact they crawl to a window which opens on to a balcony where there happens to be a safety ladder down to the ground from the second floor. The children are given coloring books with earthquake safety cartoons and other appropriate earthquake and fire safety literature to take home. The Fire Department also asks each child to take home a special letter to the parents asking them to read this material to the children and discuss preparedness principles with them. In addition, the brochure "Helping Children Cope with Disaster" booklet which is a joint Federal Emergency Management Agency/American Red Cross effort is sent along. The Fire Department's letter which the children take home also invites the parents to sign up for a free six-week neighborhood emergency response team training program. This program teaches earthquake preparedness in the home, how to keep people from bleeding to death, how to use home fire extinguishers and how to rescue people trapped under earthquake rubble. JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL YEARS. A science teacher in Montgomery County, Maryland about ten years ago submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation requesting support to develop a series of event-based science books. Dr. Russell G. Wright felt that junior high school students could be motivated to learn about science by studying real-life disasters. For example, they would study geology by starting to learn something about volcanos, study earthscience by learning about earthquakes, and study meteorology by learning about hurricanes and tornadoes, etc. The National Science Foundation provided a million dollars to support the development of a series of ten modules. Each begins with media coverage (video and print) of an event such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Great Flood of 1993, or Hurricane Andrew. Students explore their own knowledge, preconceptions, and questions before tackling a real-world, interdisciplinary task that flows from that event. Open-ended, hands-on activities help students develop knowledge and science skills. Students experience the role science plays in the lives of ordinary people. There are Student Edition workbooks and Teacher's Guides which include student activity pages, teaching suggestions, and one or more videos. Classroom Sets contain a Teacher's Guide with video(s) and 15 Student Editions. These publications are available from Dale Seymour Publications, (800) 872-1100, fax (800) 551-7637 SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL YEARS. Senior high school students are role models for younger children. They are invited to attend classes in disaster preparedness which were originally designed for adults. These classes have different names in different locations. A common name is community emergency response teams (CERT) which is now the term used by FEMA at the Emergency Management Institute, Emmitsburg, Maryland. Originally, the Los Angeles Fire developed a program to teach disaster preparedness to citizens. Later the San Francisco Fire Department decided to approach neighborhood associations to train neighborhood emergency response teams (NERT). The reason is that the Fire, Police and Public Works Departments will probably be overwhelmed in any large scale disaster. There may not be enough fire engines to try to put out numerous simultaneous fires or rescue disaster victims trapped under earthquake rubble. Many cities in California now have training programs for neighborhood emergency response teams. In my city of Pacific Grove, we call our program "Volunteers in Preparedness". The program consists of six classes: Class #1 Earthquake Preparedness in the Home - Appropriate earthquake preparedness actions you might consider for the home, work-place and car. Is the house bolted to the foundation? Is the hot-water tank strapped to wall studs? Are all tall bookcases bolted to the wall? Are computers and high value items such as TVs anchored to desks or tables with earthquake strapping so that they won't walk off and fall on the floor? Is the encyclopedia on the bottom shelf of the bookcase? Do you have water, food, clothing, and emergency supplies for three days if an earthquake were to damage your home and you had to sort of camp out until temporary Red Cross shelters were set up? Class #2 Utility Control, and Hazardous Materials - Do you know where your natural gas meter is located? Do you know when and how to turn the gas off? (For example, if an earthquake were to break gas pipes inside your house and you smelled the gas, then you turn the gas off.) Do you know how to turn off the electricity and water? Are your household chemicals stored properly in your home so that they will not become hazardous chemicals if the containers break in an earthquake? Class #3 Disaster Medicine -This disaster medicine class teaches triage -sorting of injured victims into categories of: "immediate", when rapid treatment is imperative because of life threatening injuries, "delayed" when injuries are not life threatening, and "dead" where nothing can be done for this victim. The emphasis is on initial life savings procedures - how to keep victims from bleed to death, how to keep victims breathing, and how to keep victims from going into shock. (All students are encouraged to take the American Red Cross Standard First Aid Course. The Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula schedules this eight-hour course once each month.) Class #4 Search and Rescue - This class covers possible earthquake damage to different types of construction of houses, apartments and buildings. How to recognize earthquake damage. How to search and rescue missing neighbors who may be trapped inside a damaged house. How to lift and carry injured neighbors. Class #5 Volunteers in Prepareness Team Management and Amateur Radio - In large cities such as San Francisco, the San Francisco Fire Department has a formal organization of neighborhood emergency response teams. Teams have staging and assembly areas, perhaps at elementary school playgrounds, and each team reports to one of eleven Fire Department district centers. In our city, population 17,000, we have a less formal organization of neighborhood teams. We have enlisted the cooperation of FCC-licensed amateur radio operators who live at various locations scattered throughout the city. Our earthquake scenarios always assume that there will be no commercial electricity and no telephone system working after an earthquake. Each VIP team makes contact with a "ham" who lives a block or two away to send information status reports by their battery-operated amateur radio gear to the City's emergency operations center where the City Manager, Police and Fire Chiefs, etc are operating. Class #6 Fire fighting training with fire extinguishers and rescue operations - Each student volunteer is taught basic principles of fire fighting and how to use fire extinguishers. Each volunteer practices putting out one or two fires so that they are comfortable doing this quickly in the dark if they need to in their own home. The volunteers learn how to rescue a neighbor who is trapped underneath earthquake rubble. They learn how to build earthquake cribbing to safely lift the rubble and extricate the victim. In our city, the cost of materials for each student is $30 for hard hat, identification vest, and firefighting materials expense. In some other cities, the Fire Department includes training expenses for the neighborhood emergency response teams in their annual budget. TRAINING FOR PARENTS In keeping with our theme that "Disaster preparedness for children really means disaster preparedness for parents", we take advantage of the City's exercises to both train the parents and call attention to earthquake preparedness for all residents of the city. The State of California's annual earthquake exercise is used for training of city employees and non-governmental organizations such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army. It is also used for general public education in earthquake preparedness and training of those parents involved in neighborhood emergency response teams. The State has an annual statewide earthquake exercise usually scheduled for the first Tuesday of April each year. For example the announcement for the 1996 exercise in the City of Pacific Grove was as follows: Statewide Earthquake Exercise, 10:30 a.m., April 2, 1996 1. The City of Pacific Grove will participate in the State of California's earthquake exercise scheduled for Tuesday, April 2,1996. The City's emergency operations center will be activated at 10:00 a.m. at the Community Center, 515 Junipero Avenue. 2. The exercise will proceed in the context of a "BIG" earthquake. It will be assumed that the following conditions will prevail after 10:30 a.m.: No electrical power No gas No telephone service and cellular service is overloaded No drinking water No sewer system Earthquake damage to local highways, bridges over the Salinas River, overpasses and underpasses on Routes #1 and #68 has resulted in access problems.Earthquake damage to PG&E power generating stations at Moss Landing and other locations, switching facilities and transmission lines has resulted in a lack of electrical power for Pacific Grove (scenario assumption - loss of power for one week.Earthquake damage to telephone switching facilities and telephone lines has resulted in an initial lack of regular telephone service. (scenario assumption - no telephone service of any kind for one week) Earthquake damage to water, sewer, and gas pipe lines has been widespread in Pacific Grove (scenario assumption - no resumption of services for two weeks). Earthquake damage to unreinforced masonry structures has been extensive. Earthquake damage to housing has resulted in approximately 17% (Kobe, Japan experience) of the population of Pacific Grove displaced from their homes and 10% of these requiring temporary shelter and feeding, (scenario assumption - Residents needing shelter 274). Earthquake damage has resulted in 0.35% of the population (Kobe experience) in Pacific Grove dead, and 2.34% injured (Kobe experience) who require first aid and/or hospitalization, (scenario assumption - Dead: 57, Injured: 377). 3. Preliminary planning for the exercise includes the following events: o 10:00 a.m. Activation of the City's emergency operations center at the Community Center, 515 Junipero Avenue, based upon an earthquake prediction message received from the State OES. o 10:30 a.m. Earthquake ! o The City of Pacific Grove's Damage Assessment Team may be activated under the direction of the Chief Building Inspector and begin damage assessment surveys. o The following organizations may conduct an earthquake evacuation exercise after the 10:30 a.m. earthquake: Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University Monarch Pines o The Monterey County Chapter American Red Cross in Salinas will send a shelter management team and an emergency response vehicle (complete with amateur radio station) to Pacific Grove. The team has a Red Cross trailer which contains cots, blankets and comfort kits. Monterey County Red Cross may need to request mutual aid assistance from the cluster of nearby Red Cross chapters, such as Carmel-by-the-Sea and Santa Cruz. o The Monterey Bay Search Dogs, Inc. will be requested to provide urban rescue search dogs to find survivors buried alive in (pretend) earthquake rubble of collapsed buildings. The search operation will be conducted at the City's Corporation Yard, 2100 Sunset Drive at 11:00 am. o Radio station KOCN will set up a portable remote facility at the emergency operations center so that the Mayor and City Council members can make live broadcasts to residents of Pacific Grove. o Pacific Grove amateur radio operators will set up an amateur radio station at the emergency operations center. o The Salvation Army will activate its headquarters amateur radio station in Salinas and send its emergency canteen vehicle over to Pacific Grove to provide coffee and lunch to disaster workers at the emergency operations center. o Troop 90, Pacific Grove Boy Scouts will provide scouts for duty as pages at the EOC to deliver messages, run errands, escort visitors and assist with security. o The Volunteers in Preparedness (VIP) neighborhood emergency response teams who are registered disaster service workers will be activated in their respective neighborhoods. These teams, assisted by assigned Boy Scouts and amateur radio operators, will collect preliminary damage information in their neighborhoods and report by amateur radio to the EOC. The VIP teams will conduct search & rescue operations in their neighborhoods as well as provide emergency utility control, disaster medical attention and assistance to earthquake victims. CONCLUSIONS A comprehensive public education program aimed at parents, grandparents, child-care providers, and teachers has been developed to teach them basic concepts of disaster preparedness so that children of all ages can be informed about possible natural hazards which might occur in their local neighborhoods. If the children understand something about these hazards, and participate in preparedness planning to obtain emergency supply kits of food, water, and first-aid supplies, it is hoped that they will be better prepared if these disasters ever occur. REFERENCES & RESOURCE MATERIALS American Red Cross Disaster Educational Materials http://www.redcross.org/disaster/safety/list.html Federal Emergency Management Agency .(1990). Earthquake Safety: Activities for Children, (FEMA 88a/March 1990). Washington: FEMA Masoff, Joy. (1998). Fire! New York: Scholastic,Inc., (ISBN 0590-97872-1) Wright, Russell G. (1995). Event-Based Science series. See: http://www.awl.com Addison Wesley Longman, Reading, Massachusettss. (Note: SE are Student Edition workbooks and TG are Teacher's Guides which include one or more videos. These publications are available from Dale Seymour Publications, (800) 872-1100, fax (800) 551-7637) Earthquake! Investigations in earth science. TS30438 SE; TS30454 TG Volcano! Investigations in geology TS30682 SE; TS30683 TG Tornado! Investigations in meteorology. TS36868 SE; TS36869 TG Gold Rush! Investigations in minerology. TS30678 SE; TS30679 T Flood! Investigations in stream dynamics. TS30607 SE; TS30608 TG Hurricane! Investigations in meteorology. TS30439 SE; TS30462 TG Oil Spill! Investigations in oceanography. TS30440 SE; TS30463 TG Toxic Leak! Investigations in groundwater. TS30603 SE; TS30604 TG Asteroid! Investigations in astronomy. TS30605 SE; TS30606 TG