Overlooked: The Littlest Evacuees

One of the big advancements that the State of Texas Governor's Division of Emergency Management implemented prior to the 2008 storm season was an evacuee tracking system. The 5,303 evacuees as well as the pets that you mentioned in your article were identified by the system so that they could be accounted for following the storm. Included in the information gathered is date of birth so the information on ages of children could in fact be provided to entities who need that information. Because the system is new and was only fully deployed for its first time during the Gustav and Ike, many of those who may need to know that information may not realize it is now available. Thank you for bringing up this critical point so that we can address it better in future events.
Lesia Dickson, Radiant RFID (vendor for State of Texas Special Needs Evacuation Tracking System) ldickson@radiantrfid.com

Thank you for your call for national guidelines to protect children in disaster areas, and your highlighting of the work of Save the Children in this article.

Children???s Disaster Services, a program that has been in existence since 1980, regularly contributes childcare services to the disaster response centers run by the American Red Cross and FEMA following major disasters.

At this moment, 19 trained and certified volunteers with Children???s Disaster Services are working in shelters in Texas, caring for children of families affected by Hurricane Ike. The Children???s Disaster Services volunteers are at work in two American Red Cross shelters: the Galveston Island Tent Shelter and a shelter in the Auchan area of Houston.

Since Sept. 15, Children???s Disaster Services has deployed at least 48 volunteers to American Red Cross shelters, responding to Hurricane Ike. As of Oct. 1, at least 950 child care contacts have been made during the response. Among the Hurricane Ike shelters where Children???s Disaster Services has worked has been the George Brown Convention Center in Houston.

Children???s Disaster Services is part of the Church of the Brethren Disaster Ministries, and is the oldest and largest nationwide organization specializing in children???s disaster related needs (www.childrensdisasterservices.org). The program works at the request of FEMA and the American Red Cross, placing teams of trained and certified volunteers in shelters and other centers where families receive aid following disasters.

Since it has been established, over 82,000 children have benefitted from the caring support offered by more than 2,700 trained volunteers. This includes more than 197 responses to the aftermath of natural and man-made disasters. There are currently over 500 active, certified childcare volunteers in the program. The program has its offices at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md.

This summer, Children???s Disaster Services also has responded to Hurricane Gustav and to the Metrolink train wreck in California.

To become certified with Children???s Disaster Services, volunteers participate in a 27-hour experiential training to learn about children???s special needs after a disaster, and how to work with children and families in shelters and other situations following a disaster. Volunteers undergo a rigorous screening process before they can be called to respond either locally or nationally.

Sincerely,

Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
Director of News Services
Church of the Brethren
1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
800-323-8039 ext. 260
cobnews@brethren.org or cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org