Children are always among the most vulnerable in an emergency. We know from our work after other tornadoes and our preliminary assessments in Arkansas and Kansas that children in and around devastated neighborhoods and communities have seen destruction on a scale that only the strongest tornadoes can create.
A tornado outbreak across the southeastern U.S. on April 27 and 28 devastated families and tore children's sense of security and normalcy from them. Tornadoes pose more than a physical threat to children. By damaging and destroying homes, schools and child care centers, tornadoes can severely disrupt children's lives and threaten their emotional and developmental well-being.
In the wake of the tornadoes, Save the Children deployed staff experts, first in Arkansas and then in hard-hit communities in Mississippi, to assess children's needs and the storms' impact on child care services that provide children with vital development and on which working families depend. Your support will help us offer immediate aid - especially for vulnerable children - as well as the long-term programs that will enable boys and girls to cope with and recover from the disasters.
Children whose families are now without homes and the stability that schools and child care provide will face months of uncertainty as they deal with loss and unfamiliar changes. We know from similar US emergencies that many children will require emotional support to overcome shock and the great stresses they will face. We will offer longer-term restoration of child care services, introduce our disaster-tested Journey of Hope programs, and provide community resilience support training.
