Coping with Disaster
Children, senior citizens, and people with access or functional needs are especially vulnerable to disaster-related stress; seek crisis counseling if you or someone in your family is experiencing issues with disaster-related stress.
Understand Disaster Events
It’s natural to be concerned about your own safety, as well as the safety of your family and close friends, especially in the aftermath of a disaster. Seek counseling if you or a family member is experiencing disaster-related stress.
Recognize Signs of Disaster-Related Stress
Adults suffering from depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues may require assistance if they exhibit any of the following symptoms: mood swings, low frustration thresholds, increased drug/alcohol use, fear of crowds, isolation, depression, depression, or self-doubt.
Easing Stress
Even if it’s difficult, talk to someone about your feelings – anger, sorrow, and other emotions – and seek professional help from counselors who specialize in post-disaster stress. Healthy eating, rest, exercise, relaxation, and meditation can all help you promote your own physical and emotional healing.
Helping Kids Cope with Disaster
Children may react to disasters by displaying fears, sadness, or behavioral problems. Younger children may revert to earlier behavior patterns, such as bedwetting, sleep problems, and separation anxiety, while older children may show anger, aggression, school problems, or withdrawal.
Recognize Risk Factors
Many children’s reactions to disasters are brief and normal, but a smaller number of children may be at risk for longer-term psychological distress as a result of three major risk factors: exposure, loss/grief, and on-going stress from disaster’s secondary effects.
Vulnerabilities in Children
Parents are almost always the best source of support for children in disasters. One way to build confidence in children before a disaster is to involve them in the preparation of a family disaster plan. Children can also contribute to a family recovery plan after a disaster.
Meeting the Child’s Emotional Needs
Maintain a sense of calm by validating children’s perceptions and discussing concrete plans for safety. Clarify misunderstandings about risk and danger by listening to children’s concerns and answering questions.
Reassuring Children After a Disaster
Reestablish your daily routine for work, school, play, meals, and rest; involve your children by assigning them specific chores to help them feel like they are contributing to the restoration of family and community life; and seek professional help if your reactions worsen over time.
Use Support Networks
In difficult times, parents are almost always the best source of support for their children; however, parents must attend to their own needs and have a plan in place for their own support. Disaster planning helps everyone in the family accept that disasters do occur, as well as identify and collect the resources needed to meet basic needs.
A Child’s Reaction to Disaster by Age
When children are pre-verbal and experience a traumatic event, they do not have the words to describe what happened or how they felt, but they can remember specific sights, sounds, or smells. Infants may become irritable, cry more, or want to be held and cuddled. Some children become intensely preoccupied with the details of the traumatic event and want to talk about it all the time.
Why are elderly vulnerable during disasters?
Impaired physical mobility, diminished sensory awareness, chronic health conditions, and social and economic limitations that prevent adequate preparation and hinder adaptability during disasters are some of the reasons why some older adults are particularly vulnerable during and after disasters [Fernandez, 2002].
How do you handle disaster situations?
In the event of a disaster, what should you do?
- Activate proper evacuation and safety procedures first in a disaster.
- Activate the emergency alarm and notify emergency services.
- Inform upper management of the type of disaster.
- Refer to the Disaster Recovery Manual’s RED TAB SECTION (RECOVERY SECTION).
Why is disaster planning difficult for the elderly population?
Because of their decreased mobility and chronic disease issues, disaster planning is more difficult for the elderly.
How do you evacuate the elderly?
Staying with family or friends in the area (or out of the area, if possible) is the best evacuation option for your senior; if this is not possible, staying in a hotel may be a good alternative; and weathering the storm in emergency public shelters should be your last resort.
What makes the elderly vulnerable?
Untimely or degrading death; lack of physical care and health care; oversupply of care and interference; poverty; exclusion from society; homelessness; loss of autonomy and dependence; institutionalisation are some of the states that older people may feel vulnerable to.
What makes a person with a disability more exposed and vulnerable to disaster than others?
When disaster strikes, people with disabilities are especially vulnerable, not only because of their disabilities, but also because they are more likely than people without disabilities to experience negative socioeconomic outcomes, such as higher poverty rates.
What are the 3 types of disasters?
Natural disasters, on the other hand, can be divided into three categories: (1) natural; (2) man-made; and (3) hybrid (see Figure 1). Natural disasters are catastrophic events caused by natural forces over which man has no control, such as volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, earthquakes, and so on.
What are the 5 important elements of disaster preparedness?
5 essential elements of disaster preparedness for effective emergency management
- Clear communication.
- Comprehensive training.
- Asset knowledge.
- Technology fail-safes and protocol.
- Involvement of healthcare leaders.
Do and don’ts during disaster?
If you must go outside during a storm, take shelter in a safe structure away from power lines and trees. If you must drive, stop your car and park in a safe place away from power lines and trees.
Why is it important for older adults to have an emergency plan?
Emergency preparedness programs aim to reduce mortality and morbidity, which will become even more important as the United States’ population ages. Aging-in-place efforts could be a national resource to help older adults cope with disasters.
Why is an emergency plan important for older adults?
It’s critical to know what to do in an emergency well before it happens, and older adults may face additional challenges as they age, such as hearing or vision problems or cognitive impairment, which can make it difficult to access, understand, and respond to emergency instructions.
What products do the elderly need?
Because our bodies’ needs change as we age, certain nutrients become increasingly important for good health.
- Adults over the age of 70 require more calcium and vitamin D to maintain bone health than they did when they were younger.
- Vitamin B12.
- Dietary Fiber.
- Potassium.
- Know Your Fats.
How do you create a disaster preparedness plan?
Make a plan.
- Make a disaster supply kit. Identify safe places in your home for each type of disaster. Identify the best evacuation routes from your home. Become certified in first aid and CPR. Educate each family member on how to turn off utilities (water, gas, and electricity).
How does Independence improve quality of life?
Giving someone the independence to do one thing can boost their confidence and spread to other areas of their life, improving their sense of purpose and quality of life. Giving someone the independence to do one thing can boost their confidence and spread to other areas of their life.