Archive for March, 2012

Family Preparedness Friday

Friday, March 30th, 2012

Even Sesame Street Isn’t Immune to Disasters

First of all, let me apologize for having missed a few weeks. As some of you know, I am based out of Purdue University in Indiana. And March is out to prove that old idiom right this year; in like a lion, out like a lamb.

Starting February 29 and continuing through March 3, Indiana – along with several other states – was riddled by severe storms and tornadoes. I have since been responding in the southern part of Indiana.

But now it’s time to get back on track a bit, at least keeping the blog updated again.

Having been working with families affected by the storms, I remembered a great resource for helping children cope with the effects of a disaster. Yes, I know this is a preparedness post, but it all ties together.

Your children’s favorite furry red friend and big yellow bird, Elmo and Big Bird, along with the rest of the gang have great resources for dealing with disaster. If you haven’t checked them out before, slide on over to www.sesameworkshop.org and give all of Sesame Street’s workshops a look.

 

Photo Courtesy of www.SesameStreet.org

Along with their great preparedness toolkit, Let’s Get Ready! Planning Together for Emergencies, Sesame Street has developed programs helping children deal with loss.

Sesame Street designed an entire series around hurricanes, which in fact relates very well to sever storms and tornadoes. In the series, Big Bird’s nest is destroyed in the hurricane. Through activity books and videos we follow Big Bird through his experience. We watch the Sesame Street community comfort Big Bird when he experiences the initial shock and sadness of losing his home, continue with the story as everyone pitches in to clean up Sesame Street and build a new nest for Big Bird, and finish up with Big Bird settling into his new nest.

Still from www.SesameStreet.org's video Hurricane - Part 2

By incorporating familiar characters in your family preparedness efforts, your children will want to become more involved. The characters can also help create a sense of comfort and safety when recovering from a disaster.

For more information about EDEN, visit www.EDEN.lsu.edu.

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Posted in Children and Disasters, Community Prepraredness, Community Recovery, disasters, Families and Communities, Family and Individual Preparedness | No Comments »

Tornado Season Opens Early in 2012

Monday, March 19th, 2012

While I may be rushing the official tornado season this year, I do it with good reason. As of March 12, the NWS had confirmed 132 tornadoes in 2012. The confirmed number is down from the 160 preliminary reports submitted after that date. The 2009 – 2011 total average for the three-month period January – March was 124.

As of March 13, tornadoes had affected Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

EDEN delegates have been hard at work responding to community needs in their states. Situations vary from not enough damage for a federal declaration to total destruction of a community. This YouTube video provides one example of how EDEN is leading recovery efforts in Indiana. You can also see how Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri have responded by reading about their experiences.

Status reports and requests for resources are submitted using Response Notes. The information is sent to our NIFA liaisons and summarized for the EDEN website.

What happens when a request for resources is submitted? After a request is submitted via the Response Notes, an email to EDEN delegates is issued indicating the need for a specific type of resource. For example, Kentucky requested information on how to remove fiberglass from clothing and interior fabrics. Responses to the request were sent directly to one person (in this case, Pat Skinner), who then compiled the responses. The compilation was sent back to the Kentucky delegate and added to the Resources Collected section of the Tornado page for everyone’s use. Note the additional resources collected this year, as well as the resources collected last year.

If you have other resources to help address the current or past tornado recovery issues, please send them to Kim Cassel.

Kim has summarized the tornado resources requested and shared the week of March 12. Here is her summary.

Tornado Resources  Requested and Shared Week of March 12, 2012

The effects of a disaster may have long lasting impacts on one’s mental health well-being, whether the person was directly impacted by the disaster or not.  The stresses created by disasters are beyond the common stresses of everyday life.  The CDC in partnership with the American Red Cross has developed resources for individuals, parents, children, seniors, first responders, health professionals, and community planners to deal with the mental health issues associated with disaster events.

The American Red Cross Disaster Action Teams (DAT) includes specially trained mental health to help folks cope with the emotional issues associated with disasters, man-made or natural.  They also offer  advice for taking care of your emotional health after a disaster and remind folks never to hesitate to seek professional services. Or go to http://www.redcross.org/, click on “getting assistance” “recovery after a disaster” and then “recovering emotionally.”

These resources were developed at LSU to address mental health issues of disasters:

Home, family,and child care

Home, family, and childcare coping strategies

Teacher and educator resources

Removing fiberglass from clothing

How to remove fiberglass from clothing Note this is not an Extension publication.

Social Media

From the University of Missouri , “The Use of Social Media for Disaster Recovery”

Temporary Fencing

From eXtension –   Livestock Fencing

 

 

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Posted in 4-H disaster education, Agricultural Disasters, Tornado | No Comments »

Family Preparedness Friday

Friday, March 2nd, 2012

Plan now, reduce stress later

Are you a planner? Are you an “organized” (that is such a relative word) person? I like to think that I am both.

For example, this is my office.

Pardon the dark picture, in my area we choose to work without the overhead lights turned on.

 

I would say that my desk looks organized. Remember how I said that was a relative term? Here is what I compare my office against; the boss-man, Steve’s desk.

Please note those bookshelves! Oh my!!

 

Now, I am not saying Steve isn’t organized or a planner, because he really is. I’m just saying we work in the disaster realm; therefore, our offices tend to look like disasters. And maybe after two years of working in our new offices and publishing this on a very public forum Steve might be motivated to fix those bookshelves.

Now we may have two very different ways of organizing our offices, but we do agree on one thing and that is how to organize a family disaster plan.

A family disaster plan tells everyone in the household what they will do during an emergency. It helps everyone get organized. Having a plan reduces the stress of coping with a disaster in the aftermath.

EDEN delegates from the University of Missouri Extension system have created a disaster plan template to guide you and your family through the process of developing your family’s disaster plan. Creating this plan should be a whole family collaboration, that way everyone knows their role and responsibility in times of emergency.

Click here to go to the University of Missouri’s Family Disaster Plan electronic template. The template allots for two adult family members, two child family members, and six pet family members. If you need templates for additional family members don’t worry; click here for adults, here for children, and here for pets.

While we know this is an electronic document, remember to have a hard copy of this document as well.

Organize your family disaster plan now, to help reduce the effects of disasters later. Now I’m off to see if I can get Steve motivated to organize his office.

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Posted in 4-H disaster education, Children and Disasters, Communication, Disaster Education Planning, disasters, Families and Communities, Family and Individual Preparedness, Pets and Companion Animals, Youth Programs and Initiatives | No Comments »