I can hardly believe this year marks the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The images from that devastating day are still fresh, the after-math and repercussions from the storm, still very real. This tragedy affected our entire nation. As a resident of Georgia at the time, we experienced the wrath of the storm with some physical damage but more so with the displacement of people affected from the storm. People seeking shelter, supplies and hope that our community readily embraced but it was not nearly enough to buffer the effects of the storm.
Did you know that in addition to the environmental damage, Katrina led to 5,000 reported missing children and it took seven months to connect the last child with her parents?
This summer, during the height of the hurricane season Save the Children wants parents and their children to be prepared should disaster strike again. Save the Children is imploring parents to make sure their children have an emergency contact card with not only information for local family, but also family who live out of town. This is critically important because during disasters local networks and telephones lines are usually down. Being able to call family who are not affected by a storm is important to connect children back to families.
Make your emergency contact form for free at www.savethechildren.org/Connect.
Please join me to take the time to create your plan for emergencies and to share this valuable information. We never know when or where disaster will strike, but we can gift our children with the tools they need to help them in a time of emergency!
