Emergency
Issue China is prone to many natural disasters including floods, earthquakes, snowstorms, sandstorms, and drought. Human-induced disasters such as mine accidents, chemical spills, building collapses and floods—the latter exacerbated by farming and logging—are an increasing concern for both the government and the public. Combined, these calamities affect about 200 million people each year and are estimated to reduce China's annual GDP by 3 to 4 percentage points. For children, the consequences of a disaster extend far beyond the actual event. Of course, disasters that destroy schools immediately disrupt a child's education. But the trauma of seeing parents killed or in a state of panic can be even more damaging to the child's development. Helping children prepare for and recover from a disaster is at the heart of the UNICEF Natural Disaster and Emergency Programme. The Programme's interventions can be broken down into Preparedness and Response activities. Preparedness activities teach children (and their adult caregivers) what to do when disaster strikes. Teaching appropriate behaviors minimizes panic and reduces the potential for psychological trauma and stress. Preparedness activities also focus on the standardizing and categorizing data by sex and age to generate a clear and complete picture about the number of children affected by an emergency. This is a key element in identifying needs and tailoring responses to fit the situation. Response activities involve two main objectives. The first is to reduce morbidity and mortality, mainly by preventing communicable diseases through health education activities. The second objective is to minimize the short- and long-term effects of a disaster on a child's psychological well being. This is done in a number of ways. First, by returning to school as quickly as possible, children can regain a sense of normalcy and begin healing. In many cases, it takes local government authorities and communities a long time to reopen or rebuild damaged school buildings. UNICEF provides a minimum package of school materials that allows a community to quickly set up a temporary school-like environment. Third, depending on the severity of the disaster, UNICEF may arrange counseling for children and their family members. This is especially valuable for teaching them to cope with the effects of a disaster and provides stress relief.
Action UNICEF has undertaken the following activities to help children when disaster strikes: - Trained more than 500 project staff, health educators, schoolteachers, village leaders, and women officials in health education, environmental clean-up, and other emergency response strategies - Trained 50 local government officials in risk assessment and planning. - Taught preparedness skills to 100 teachers and 4,000 children using role-plays and mock-disaster scenarios. - Developed, printed and distributed posters and brochures instructing schools and communities how to respond during emergencies. - Trained 110 staff from China's Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Health, and China National Children's Centre (CNCC) on counseling techniques for children. - Established emergency preparedness stores in five counties using local government funds to ensure children's needs would be met in the event of a natural disaster. - Supported a visit to the Philippines by Chinese government officials to observe how NGOs are integrated into an emergency preparedness and response system. - Developed “RiskLand,” a disaster preparedness game that allows children to better cope with the effects of a disaster and helps them respond appropriately. - Provided more than 30 tons of chemical disinfectants to prevent outbreaks of disease following major floods. - Distributed 8,600 kilograms of water purification tablets to prevent the spread of waterborne disease. Impact Partly as a result of advocacy by UNICEF, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs has established a new Department of Emergency Preparedness. Approximately 2.5 million people in five provinces benefited from capacity building exercises targeting local officials. Educational campaigns improved disease surveillance and post-disaster clean-up, thereby averting potential epidemics during and after disasters. All five UNICEF-assisted project counties now have child-centered, disaster preparedness plans in place. More than 15,000 primary school children received desks, chairs, and school supplies that allowed them to continue their education following an emergency.
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