Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

Natural Disaster: Hurricane Katrina

The devastation of Hurricane Katrina claimed the lives, homes and loved ones during its landfall.  There were a lot of misleading perceptions of the people of New Orleans, but they all were merely trying to survive during this trying time of their life.  With the lack of food, water and other resources, it leads families to do things they had never even thought about before.

A story that comes to mind is one that my family went through.  My sister had just been discharged from the hospital after giving birth to her healthy 8 pound 2 ounce son, only three days prior to the storm hitting landfall in New Orleans.  Of course, like most families throughout the New Orleans Metro Area decided to wait the storm out, especially after just giving birth, however to this day, she will say that her staying in the city was the worst thing she had ever done in her entire life.  When she explained her story to me, it was truly heartfelt. All she could remember was hearing all the water from the levees gushing in, wrapping her son up in blankets and heading into her parent’s attic of their house.  Her family stayed in the attic for a total of 5 days before being rescued, by breaking a hole in the roof of the house and her brother standing on the roof waving to the helicopters to get some assistance. Finally, upon getting assistance, they were then transported to the Superdome. She said it was so many people actually living in the Superdome, she said she had to take matters into her own hands so she was finally able to contact a family member in Montana, whom sent her and the rest of her family train tickets to get out of New Orleans. She explained this time to be extremely stressful and she would not want to wish that experience on anyone.

Disasters in Other Countries

I have never had to go through such a devastating event, such as a Tsunami before, but I’m more than sure that it would be just as stressful. I would like to know what during both devastations there were people from all over the world pitching in to help out through making donations to the American Red Cross, sending  money to local public entities and also here in the surrounding areas of the New Orleans region, citizens were even offering their homes to families. This was extremely welcoming rather than having to sleep on high school gym floors or cots. I can remember watching the news and seeing the aftermath of the Tsunami that occurred Japan. Of course, it was a stressful, challenging and devastating time for the adults of the country, but watching the children in that area walking around, I’m sure was stressful for them as well. There were so many children whom wondered the streets looking for their parents and loved ones during this time, it was just depressing. Save the Children reports that as many as 100,000 children were uprooted from their homes, some of whom were separated from their families because the earthquake occurred during the school day (McCurry, 2011). Regardless the type of disaster, it may have made more of an impact on them if they were old enough to understand what had taken place, while the younger children were just as they were prior to the disaster.

Reference:

McCurry, Justin (15 March 2011). "Japan earthquake: 100,000 children displaced, says charity". The Guardian (London). http://www.webcitation.org/5xD8JCtef. Retrieved 15 March 2011