Emergency preparedness is a fast developing field of education driven by the numerous disasters worldwide with more recent notable examples including the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in the US in 2001, the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the London bombings in 2005, the earthquake in China in 2008, the Great East Japan…

Global concerns about the consequences of disasters, political violence, disease, malnutrition, maltreatment, and other threats to human development and well-being have sparked a surge of international interest in resilience science. This article highlights progress and issues in research that aims to understand variations in human adaptation to…

This timely book provides current research and skill-building information on Disaster Mental Health Counseling for counselors, educators, students, and mental health responders in agencies, schools, universities, and private practice. Recognized experts in the field detail effective clinical interventions with survivors in the immediate,…

Play therapy is a highly adaptable treatment method that can be modified according to children's ages, circumstances, and settings in which counseling occurs. Play therapy may be used in schools, community settings, and homes to help children following the death of a significant other. After reviewing basic developmental factors that affect…

This article provides a collection of websites related to children affected by war, terrorism, and disaster. These online resources are intended to provide information about various organizations and their efforts to improve the lives of children in crisis around the world.

More and more children are forced to deal with crushing hardships. The responsibilities of adults worldwide to attend to the affected children have never been greater. In this article, the authors first give an overview of the psychological risks for children who experience war, terrorism, and disaster. They then listen to the voices of children…

Early childhood educators are increasingly being called upon to deal with emotionally charged topics, which include natural and manmade disasters, war, terror, death, and other traumatic events. At our teachers college, we prepare students to deal with a challenging issue, memory of the Holocaust, through a series of activities and workshops…

This study was prompted by the continual exposure of youth to disasters (e.g., 9/11, Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, school violence) and the call for revisions in fear assessments to reflect contemporary fears. Fears of 1,033 students in Grades 2-12 were examined using the American Fear Survey Schedule for Children (J. J. Burnham, 2005). Results…

This study examined children's media use (i.e., amount of television and Internet usage) and relationships to children's perceptions of societal threat and personal vulnerability. The sample consisted of 90 community youth aged 7 to 13 years (M = 10.8; 52.2% male) from diverse economic backgrounds. Analyses found children's television use to be…

Major natural and human-caused disasters deeply affect children, and they have a special vulnerability to such events. The importance of providing crisis counseling recovery assistance within the context of their special world cannot be over emphasized. The information in this manual provides both theory and guidance to individuals concerned with…

This paper contains an outline of a workshop designed for the disaster mental health worker. The goal of the workshop is to describe how disaster services are different from other mental health services and to provide suggestions on how to make these services more effective. The types of disasters, the anatomy of a disaster, and time phases of a…

This National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) resource guide on emergency management research and people with disabilities provides a listing and description of research projects funded by the federal government and nonfederal entities, research recommendations that have come out of conferences on emergency management…

The terror and severe stress most children feel after a disaster such as an earthquake or bombing manifest themselves in a number of ways. This book provides a tool for parents and others responsible for children's well-being to prepare for a disaster experience. The book's introductory chapter examines the nature of disasters--natural and…