Emergency Preparedness; Natural and Human Disasters

Emergency Preparedness
Natural and Human-Generated Disasters



The two disasters scenarios that could threaten an early childhood environment in Atlanta would be tornadoes and flooding. The childcare center that is located in the subdivision is always threatened by tornadoes during the spring of the year. Then the childcare center, located on a lower piece of land, at the bottom of a hill, is always threatened by flood waters in the winter time.
My first disaster is a tornado warning has just been issued for H. County and everyone has been advised to take cover from the storm. The tornado has been spotted and is on the ground heading toward the daycare subdivision. All of the children are sitting at their tables coloring because during bad storms the teachers like to have them all in one place and sitting down. Due to the fact that there are glass windows and doors in the home, I have to first, protect the children from harm and danger without scaring them. We move the children to the closets and the bathrooms and cover them with covers to protect them from falling debris and any other damages that may occur during the storm.
Some potential dangers may be the electric going out and the home could possibly be damaged in the storm. Our communication lines may be cut off or have no signal to be able to call parents or the parents be able to call the center. We would therefore have a cell phone for parents to call in case of an emergency. We may have objects falling or flying in the home. So we must make sure everyone is safe until the storm end.
The children and the adults will all be at risk during the storm therefore we must be ready for the tornado when the warning comes. If we do not prepare for disasters, we will not know what to do with the children or where they need to go when we get a warning about a tornado.
In order to prepare, I will have to make sure that we have an evacuation plan posted in the house so that the teachers know what room they need to take their children in case of a storm, this way no one would be bumping into each other or running around and not knowing where to go while panicking. We would practice the drill once a month during off season and twice a month during the tornado season. I would send information home to parents so they would know what to do in case of a disaster. It would encourage the parents to practice at home with their children so that they would know what to do at home and at school. The teachers will know to count the children before taking cover and after taking cover during a storm. The will need to have their first aid kit handy, flashlight, and walkie talkie to keep in touch with the director. According to FEMA, listen to a weather radio, know when to take cover and where, and know what to do after the storm (www.FEMA.gov).
After the storm, I would make sure the children are safe and okay before checking the damages to the home, if any. If there are, I would contact my insurance company to report a claim, I would make sure I let parents know their children are okay, I would be ready to answer questions from the children and comfort them. Parents will know what to do because I would have already sent home a information package on what they would need to do if something should happen at our daycare center. This is what I would do to prepare for a tornado at this home daycare.
My second disaster is to prepare for a flooding. The daycare is located at the bottom of a hill near a lake. Because of the risk of flooding to the center, the staff has to be ready to line the children up and relocate them to higher grounds, at a local church nearby.
A flood warning has been issued so the teachers have to do roll call and gather supplies and survivor kit that is pre-made in the event of flooding. The rain is heavy and coming down fast. The parents already know where the children will be relocated to in case of flooding in the area. The staff has packed snacks, extra covers, first aid kit, flashlights, radios, and books for stories. The staff already knows the drill, so they contact the church to let them know that we are loading the children up on the buses and heading up the hill to the church for safety. Parents would also practice the drill with their child at the center on a monthly base to help children know that their parent already know what to do if a disaster happened.
The danger that can occur, if the children are not moved out of the center in time so they could possibly get caught in the flood waters and some could get stuck or drown. Or we may not be able to drive the buses and get the children to safety. The staff and the children are at risk if we are not prepared for the flooding. The whole community would be at risk from the flood. That is why the staff practiced what to do and how to do if they needed to act.
To develop my plan in advance, I had to know that the center was at risk for a flood. Then I talk with the local people to see what they did during a flood and I made preparations to be allowed to used the church for the children at the daycare center for safety when it rain and there is a flood watch. Then I wrote down what we needed to do in case of a flooding and posted it in all the classrooms, so they could follow the evacuations plan for leaving the classrooms and getting on the buses.
Other than being stuck down the hill, some other complication would be traffic, mudslides, electrical problems, and more than a day staying at the church. If that happened, then the snacks may run out for the children or they could get sick. Children would miss their parents and be scared of what has happened. We would hope for no complications.
After the storm, I would assess the damages to the property and make a claim if needed. If the center is okay then I would make sure everything is safe inside to before allowing the staff and children to return. Once I have a confirmation that it is, I would let them return to the center once I know it is safe.




References

Federal Emergency Management Agency. Retrieved on March 21, 2010 from: http://www.fema.gov.
Robertson, C. (2010). Safety, nutrition, and health in early education (4th ed.). Belmont,

CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.