The best protection in any emergency is knowing what to do.

Getting Back on Track After an Emergency

Here are some suggestions to help get yourself and your family back on track after a major emergency or disaster:

• Talk about your feelings.
• Talk about what's happened.
• Encourage your children to express their feelings. They may want to do this by drawing or playing instead of talking. Understand that their feelings are real.
• Recognize that when you suffer a loss, you may grieve. (Yes, you can grieve the loss of a wedding photo or your grandfather's favourite ring.) You may feel apathetic or angry. You may not sleep or eat well. These are normal grief reactions.
• Give yourself and your family permission to grieve and time to heal.

How to Help Your Children

Children exposed to a disaster can experience a variety of intense emotional reactions, such as anxiety, fear, nervousness, stomachaches, loss of appetite and other reactions.

These are normal and temporary reactions to danger. Parents can help relieve such reactions by taking their children's fears seriously, by reassuring them, giving them additional attention and hugging them. Explain to them what s going on, and what will happen and will not happen. It will help your children if you are calm and reassuring.

After a disaster, children are most afraid that:

• The event will happen again
• Someone will get hurt or injured
• They will be separated from the family
• They will be left alone

To counter these fears, comfort and reassure children. Tell them what you know about the situation. Be honest but gentle. Encourage them to talk about the disaster. Encourage them to ask questions. Give them a real task to do, something that gets the family back on its feet. Keep them with you, even if it seems easier to look for housing or help on your own. During an emergency, it's important for the whole family to stay together.