Natural Disasters And Children's Effects On Children

Natural disasters are natural events that cause damage or loss of life. These events effect millions of people all around the world each year. The effects that these disasters have on children can be very serious, but often vary based on the severity of the disaster. There are no ways to control these events, making them hard to predict and prepare for. In 1999, there were nearly seventy million children that were impacted by natural disasters, and with climate change continually worsening, this number is likely to triple by the year 2020 (Penrose and Takaki, 2006). When it comes to looking at the impacts of these disasters, children and their personal well beings are rarely the focus because there is a misconception that children aren't effected

This predictor includes a child’s perception of how dangerous the event is and how their parent’s respond to the stress that arises because of such event. If a child believes they are in great danger and are anxious before the event, they are more likely to have symptoms of PTSD and anxiety afterwards (Weems, 2007). Another aspect of exposure is the loss that the child suffered. In terms of loss, if the natural disaster causes damage to a child’s possessions or home and/or causes them to lose a close friend or family member, that child is much more likely to develop PTSD, depression and anxiety after the fact (Lengua et al., 2005) This is because children have a much harder time processing loss than adults, therefore causing a harsher emotional response (Kousky, 2016). In a study done by McFarlane in 1987, he observed 800 children that lived through a disastrous wildfire in Australia that killed 14 people and wreaked havoc on communities. In studying these children, he was able to determine that over 1/3 of these children continued to be preoccupied with the disaster over two years after the fact. The worse the damage caused by the disaster, the worse the psychological problems that ensue (Kousky,