Citation

Brandenburg MA, Watkins SM, Brandenburg KL, Schieche C. Disasters 2007; 31(3): 277-287.

Affiliation

Department of Emergency Medicine, Oklahoma Institute of Disaster and Emergency Medicine, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine at Tulsa, 4502 East 41st Street, Tulsa, OK 74135, USA. mark-brandenburg@ouhsc.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1467-7717.2007.01009.x

PMID

17714168

Abstract

Children constitute a vulnerable population and special considerations are necessary in order to provide proper care for them during disasters. After disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, the rapid identification and protection of separated children and their reunification with legal guardians is necessary in order to minimise secondary injuries (i.e. physical and sexual abuse, neglect and abduction). At Camp Gruber, an Oklahoma shelter for Louisianans displaced by Hurricane Katrina, a survey tool was used to identify children separated from their guardians. Of the 254 children at the camp, 36 (14.2 per cent) were separated from their legal guardians. Answering 'no' to the question of whether the accompanying adult was the guardian of the child prior to Hurricane Katrina was a strong predictor (27.8 per cent versus 3.2 per cent) of being listed as 'missing' by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). All the children at Camp Gruber who were listed as 'missing' by the NCMEC were subsequently reunited with their guardians.

Language: en