Emergency Preparedness: Natural and Human-Generated Disasters
Natural Disaster
A natural disaster that is possible to occur in Nevada is earthquakes. To be prepared in the event of an earthquake, early childhood centers should have a plan in place to ensure all teachers and staff knows how to respond and keep the children safe. There are many dangers in the event of an earthquake. The main danger is from falling debris. Preparing the environment before an earthquake hits can lessen this threat. According to FEMA (2011), to protect against this, shelves and heavy objects should be fastened to walls, appliances can be secured by strapping them to wall studs, and storing glass or heavy items on low shelves.
To be prepared in this disaster, an emergency kit should be developed. This kit should include: first aid supplies, water, non-perishable foods, any medications needed by the children in care, contact information, flashlights, a portable radio, and a phone. These are items that will be needed in any disaster and should be kept in a place that is easily accessible.
The staff of the facility needs to be aware of their responsibilities during an earthquake. This will help to ensure the safety of everyone in the center. For example, individual teachers will gather children in the safe place within their classroom, making certain all children are accounted for. This can be accomplished by taking the daily sign-in sheet with them. The director and assistant directors are responsible for contacting families and double-checking with teachers that all children are accounted for. The office staff is responsible for the emergency kit and files of the children. With everyone working together before, during, and after the disaster, the safety of all will be greatly strengthened. If all colleagues are not aware of their responsibilities, then the risk of injuries of children and staff is increased. To combat this, earthquake drills need to be conducted on a regular basis.
The earthquake disaster plan should be shared with the families of the children in the program. This will help to ease any worries that the families may have about the safety of the child while in care. Additionally, providing earthquake preparedness information to families will help them develop their own plans at home in the event of an earthquake.
Human-Generated Disaster
The early childhood center where I work is on a military installation. This puts us at a greater risk for human-generated disasters, including terrorist attacks. To keep children and staff safe in this event, a concise plan should be in place. This plan must cover a wide range of events, involving chemical and biological attacks, bomb threats, and hostage situations (Robertson, 2010).
This type of disaster is more complicated than natural disasters due to the fact that there is usually no warning of the pending disaster. This creates many obstacles in establishing a plan to safeguard the children in care. The plan needs to include a shelter-in-place procedure, evacuation plan, and an off-site meeting place. To prepare for this type of disaster, early childhood staff must be knowledgeable about the disaster and understand what their role in emergency procedures are. Additionally, the families of the children should be made aware of the policies and procedures of the center in regard to human-generated disasters. This will help in case any family members are present if this occurs and to alleviate any concerns of the families of the safety of the children.
In the event of a terrorist attack or a hostage situation, a safe-in-place procedure should be implemented. The office/front desk staff is responsible for calling 911. The site director should announce the safe-in-place emergency. Caregivers remove children from classrooms with daily sign in sheets to the interior hallway. This keeps children away from outside windows and doors. The directors and assistant directors check with caregivers to make certain that all children are accounted for. Caregivers help children to stay calm by softly talking to them or reading stories. This is the process until the all clear is announced.
In the event of an off-site evacuation, possibly due to a chemical or biological threat the procedure is different than a safe-in-place process. Children must be moved from the center to an off-site location. Depending on the distance, a van or bus may be used or children or staff may walk children to the destination. This location should be predetermined by the center director and needs to be known to all staff. When the announcement is made for the evacuation, caregivers move children to the new location. Caregivers need to bring the daily sign-in sheet and the class first aid kit. Front desk staff is responsible for bringing the emergency kit and children’s files. The director/assistant director double checks with staff for accountability of children. Everyone stays at the off-site location until it is safe to return to the center.
References
FEMA (2011). Ready. Retrieved from http://www.ready.gov/earthquakes
Robertson, C. (2010). Safety, nutrition, and health in early education (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.
Lori,
ReplyDeleteYour information on emergency plans for earthquakes is very informing and great knowledge. I live in Oklahoma and we have recently had some big earthquakes for our state. I feel that soon there will be some sort of plan for earthquakes in place with the ones for floods, tornadoes, and fires. Also, many people do not think about all the different places that can house a child care facility. I know I would have never thought about a military base.