[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 57 (Thursday, May 11, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S4478]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 94--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT
THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH AFFECTED OR DISPLACED BY DISASTERS ARE
UNIQUE AND SHOULD BE GIVEN SPECIAL CONSIDERATION IN PLANNING,
RESPONDING, AND RECOVERING FROM SUCH DISASTERS IN THE UNITED STATES
Mr. COCHRAN (for himself and Ms. Landrieu) submitted the following
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs:
Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, the hurricanes of last summer brought new
demands on all of our nation's rescue resources. The needs of children,
particularly young children and their families, are unique and not a
part of local and national recovery plans. Mental health, physical
needs, day care, education, and family separation continue to be needs
that for communities to address.
The National Center for Rural Early Childhood Learning Initiatives
and the non-profit Save the Children, continue to lead the focused on
the special needs of children. While assessing damages and recording
destroyed facilities, the Rural Early Childhood center and Save the
Children, with assistance from others, also developed a plan for future
disasters.
Today I am introducing a Senate concurrent resolution that expresses
the sense of the Senate that the Federal Emergency Management Agency
should consider the unique needs of children and consider the recent
experiences, suggestions and solutions of organizations and research
centers. We ought to support the incorporation of child-specific needs
and concerns into the National Response Plan. The Senator from
Louisiana, Ms. Landrieu, is cosponsoring this resolution. We invite all
Senators to join us.
S. Con. Res. 94
Whereas major disasters resulting in Presidential disaster
declarations in the United States have increased from an
average of 38 per year in the 1980s, to 46 per year in the
1990s, to 52 per year during the first half of this decade;
Whereas the occurrence of major disasters in the United
States is expected to continue to increase in the foreseeable
future;
Whereas the number of people in the United States affected
by disasters each year is a staggering 2,000,000 to 3,000,000
as measured by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (even
outside of truly catastrophic events as occurred on the Gulf
Coast in 2005);
Whereas 5,192 children were reported missing or displaced
to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as a
result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and it took 6 \1/2\
months to reunite the last child separated from her family;
Whereas the most serious of such cases were those 45
children arriving at shelters separated from parents or
guardians with no adult supervision and it took more than 1
month to resolve all of those cases;
Whereas 1,100 schools were closed immediately following
Hurricane Katrina and 372,000 schoolchildren were initially
unable to attend school in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast due
to the hurricane;
Whereas in Mississippi 7 percent and in Louisiana 21
percent of elementary schools and secondary schools remained
closed 6 months after Hurricane Katrina;
Whereas more than 400,000 children under the age of 5 live
in or have evacuated from counties or parishes that have been
declared disaster areas by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency;
Whereas the numbers of licensed child care facilities in
areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita declined by 4
percent (54 facilities) in Mississippi and by 25 percent (356
facilities) in Louisiana after the storms;
Whereas children are known to benefit from rapid mental
health programming following disasters to mitigate longer
term impacts;
Whereas the existing system of disaster management in the
United States is the purview of Federal, State, and local
government emergency management organizations and the
disaster management programs and activities of these
organizations are not mandated nor are able to fully respond
to the unique needs of children;
Whereas Federal, State, and local government emergency
management professionals lack the technical knowledge,
support, and contacts to address the unique needs of children
that need to be incorporated into such professionals'
disaster management programs and activities; and
Whereas existing legislative constraints on Federal
disaster response and recovery aid programs restrict disaster
officials from responding to the specific needs of children
in a disaster and there is no government liaison or program
concerning children's issues in disasters: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the needs of children and youth affected by major
disasters are unique and should be given special
consideration in planning, responding, and recovering to
major disasters; and
(2) the Federal Emergency Management Agency should consult
with appropriate child-focused non-governmental organizations
and public university national research centers with
experience in addressing the needs of children in major
disasters to address the needs of children and youth in
disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation,
including by--
(A) incorporating suggestions from such organizations on
children's issues into the National Response Plan;
(B) seeking the recommendations of such organizations on
how to address the needs of children in emergency shelters,
trailer parks, and transitional housing sites;
(C) jointly developing child-, family-, early childhood
service-, and school-focused disaster preparedness materials
to support understanding of the impact of disasters on
children and strategies to mitigate them; and
(D) jointly developing risk assessment tools for
communities to use in determining children's specific
disaster risks.
____________________