Drought for Kids
Drought for Kids” from the National Drought Mitigation Center gives an overview of drought – the science, the impacts, and what people can do to prepare for drought. An excellent resource for students, parents and teachers to learn more about the mitigation of drought, the development of drought, and the impact of drought on producers, communities, and individuals.
Kim Cassel
Disasters bring more than physical devastation, they also bring stress and related mental and physical illness. And though hosted by the Drought NEIL the information presented by Sherry Nelson, LCSW and Missouri Extension Specialist is applicable to folks impacted by disasters other than drought.
The objectives of the webinar Part I were for Extension staff to:
Signs of distress may include any of the following physical and emotional reactions:
The Helpline is staffed by trained counselors from a network of crisis call centers located across the United States, all of whom provide:
Kim Cassel
Steve Cain, EDEN Homeland Security Project Director is chairing the NVOAD (National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) Drought and Wildfire Taskforce. The taskforce is charged with identifying problems and opportunities, aligning those with the VOAD mission and designing a process of engagement for members and states.
The taskforce has four working groups, community, family and individual, farm operations, and procedural. Needs and issues being examined are :
Loss of farmers
Migrant labor
Quality degradation
Crop and livestock
Cropping shifts
Locating hay
Economic stress
Family stress
House foundations
River navigation
River and reservoir recreation
Land and community reclamation
Scarce water
Bird migration
Future mitigation
Desalination
Rainwater harvesting
Population shifts
Drought long-term recovery
Wildfire long-term recovery
Emotional and spiritual care
Community development
For more information and team member directory go to the EDEN Drought Page – NVOAD .
Kim Cassel
As Seasonal Drought Outlook (below) shows peristence and intensification of the drought over much of the country through the end of the year, I share with you the leadership of the newly formed Drought NEIL (National EDEN Issue Leader) Team. The team is charged with the development of sustainable EDEN and EDEN eXtension drought preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation research based resources. Working from a Logic Model, we will be building on the excellent resources shared by Extension Specialists and County Extension Educators.
| University | Who | Phone | |
| South Dakota State University | E. Kim Cassel | Kim.cassel@sdstate.edu | 605-696-7873 |
| University of Tennessee | Tim Prather | tprather@tennessee.edu | 865-974-7266 |
| University of Kentucky | Tom Priddy | Priddy@uky.edu | 859-257-3000 ext 245 |
| Auburn University | Virginia Morgan | morgamv@auburn.edu | 334-844-5699 |
| Purdue University | Steve Cain | cain@purdue.edu | 765-494-8410 |
| Louisiana State University | Pat Skinner | pskinner@agcenter.lsu.edu | 225-578-2910 |
| University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Rick Atterberry | ratterbe@illinois.edu | 217-244-2828 |
| University of Missouri | Bev Maltsberger | MaltsbergerB@missouri.edu | 816-279-1691 |
| University of Minnesota | Phyllis Onstad | onsta003@umn.edu | 507-796-6008 |
| University of Missouri | Sherry Nelson | NelsonS@missouri.edu | 573-769-2177 |
| Oregon State University | Lynette Black | lynette.black@oregonstate.edu | 541-296-5494 |
| University of Arkansas | Deborah Tootle | dtootle@uaex.edu | 501-671-2228 |
| South Dakota State University | Alvaro Garcia | Alvaro.garcia@sdstate.edu | 605-688-5488 |
| University of Nebraska – Lincoln | Rick Koelsch | rkoelsch1@unl.edu | 402-472-2966 |
| NIFA/USDA | Bill Hoffman | whoffman@NIFA.USDA.GOV | 202-401-1112 |
Kim Cassel
Looking for some new tools to help educate your child on disasters, including disaster preparedness?
The American Red Cross’s Masters of Disaster curriculum contains lessons, activities, and demonstrations on disaster-related topics. The program curriculum is tailored for three age groups: lower elementary (K-2), upper elementary (3-5), and middle school (6-8).
Photo courtesy of the American Red Cross's Masters of Disaster curriculum.
Covering 11 topic areas, such as Floods, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and Facing Fear, your child will learn lessons in:
To access the Masters of Disaster curriculum click here. Also check out the American Red Cross Blog for more disaster information.
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 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
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.
This week’s post comes to you from my remote location in beautiful New Orleans, Louisiana. I’ve had meetings here all week; which means I have been away from my family all week. I sadly had to leave my husband and children at home. Not let me clarify, the children in our household are fur-babies.
Holden, the chocolate lab, and Arie, the pug
Please meet, Holden the slightly chubby overly-lovable, chocolate lab and Arie the often completely wild and insane rambunctious, pug. I know that I am the same as many other animal owners when I say that my pets are part of my family.
The likelihood that you and your animals will survive emergencies or disasters such as a fire, earthquake, flood, tornado or terrorist attack depends largely on emergency planning.
If possible, if an emergencies or disasters force you to evacuate your home, take your pets with you. However, if you are going to a public shelter, understand that animals may not be allowed inside. For example, Red Cross disaster shelters cannot accept pets due to health and safety regulations. Service animals that assist people with disabilities are the only exception. Make plans for shelter alternatives that will work for both you and your pets.
Be prepared for an emergency or disaster. Assemble animal emergency supply kits and develop a pet-care plan that will work whether you decide to stay put in an emergency or evacuate to a safer location. Keep in mind that what is best for you is typically best for your animals. Create kits for each pet for at least three days, and store the supplies in a pet carrier that’s ready to go.
In the event of evacuation, do not leave pets behind. However, if it’s impossible to take them, make sure plenty of dry food and water are available.
For more information look at the EDEN Family Preparedness Course or FEMA’s Information for Pet Owners page.
If you were to lose power in your home for three days, what would you eat? Food from the refrigerator? No longer good. Food from the freezer? Not an option either. Microwave something? No power, remember.
Maybe you should start thinking now about what you could cook from the ingredients you have in your disaster readiness kit or your kitchen pantry right this moment.
Take a look around, what do you have? You can heat that can of ravioli up of a fire, same for the baked beans and cans of soup. But don’t stop there, think harder. What can you create from these items?
Well, I’ll be honest; my go-to comfort food is chicken pot pie, it’s perfect for sad days, cold days, and really ANY day. And yes, I know there are no two people that make it exactly alike, but I have to say my mother’s recipe is pretty fantastic. However, if my power is knocked out for several days on end I’m not going to be able to use those chicken breasts in the fridge or make pie crust from scratch like the recipe says. I will be able to make my disaster ready chicken pot pie though. Check out how using canned ingredients can create relatively the same meal.
Now that sounds more like a family meal. Be creative, but plan ahead. When making your disaster readiness kit plan meals ahead that will feed your whole family. Canned ingredients may seem simple, but they can make some of the best meals.
What did you find when you looked in your fridge? Share with us some of your disaster ready meal ideas.
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