[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 94 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. CON. RES. 94
Expressing the sense of Congress that the needs of children and youth
affected or displaced by disasters are unique and should be given
special consideration in planning, responding, and recovering from such
disasters in the United States.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 11, 2006
Mr. Cochran (for himself and Ms. Landrieu) submitted the following
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of Congress that the needs of children and youth
affected or displaced by disasters are unique and should be given
special consideration in planning, responding, and recovering from such
disasters in the United States.
Whereas major disasters resulting in Presidential disaster declarations in the
United States have increased from an average of 38 per year in the
1980s, to 46 per year in the 1990s, to 52 per year during the first half
of this decade;
Whereas the occurrence of major disasters in the United States is expected to
continue to increase in the foreseeable future;
Whereas the number of people in the United States affected by disasters each
year is a staggering 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 as measured by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (even outside of truly catastrophic events
as occurred on the Gulf Coast in 2005);
Whereas 5,192 children were reported missing or displaced to the National Center
for Missing & Exploited Children as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita, and it took 6 \1/2\ months to reunite the last child separated
from her family;
Whereas the most serious of such cases were those 45 children arriving at
shelters separated from parents or guardians with no adult supervision
and it took more than 1 month to resolve all of those cases;
Whereas 1,100 schools were closed immediately following Hurricane Katrina and
372,000 schoolchildren were initially unable to attend school in New
Orleans and the Gulf Coast due to the hurricane;
Whereas in Mississippi 7 percent and in Louisiana 21 percent of elementary
schools and secondary schools remained closed 6 months after Hurricane
Katrina;
Whereas more than 400,000 children under the age of 5 live in or have evacuated
from counties or parishes that have been declared disaster areas by the
Federal Emergency Management Agency;
Whereas the numbers of licensed child care facilities in areas affected by
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita declined by 4 percent (54 facilities) in
Mississippi and by 25 percent (356 facilities) in Louisiana after the
storms;
Whereas children are known to benefit from rapid mental health programming
following disasters to mitigate longer term impacts;
Whereas the existing system of disaster management in the United States is the
purview of Federal, State, and local government emergency management
organizations and the disaster management programs and activities of
these organizations are not mandated nor are able to fully respond to
the unique needs of children;
Whereas Federal, State, and local government emergency management professionals
lack the technical knowledge, support, and contacts to address the
unique needs of children that need to be incorporated into such
professionals' disaster management programs and activities; and
Whereas existing legislative constraints on Federal disaster response and
recovery aid programs restrict disaster officials from responding to the
specific needs of children in a disaster and there is no government
liaison or program concerning children's issues in disasters: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring),
That it is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the needs of children and youth affected by major
disasters are unique and should be given special consideration
in planning, responding, and recovering to major disasters; and
(2) the Federal Emergency Management Agency should consult
with appropriate child-focused non-governmental organizations
and public university national research centers with experience
in addressing the needs of children in major disasters to
address the needs of children and youth in disaster
preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation, including
by--
(A) incorporating suggestions from such
organizations on children's issues into the National
Response Plan;
(B) seeking the recommendations of such
organizations on how to address the needs of children
in emergency shelters, trailer parks, and transitional
housing sites;
(C) jointly developing child-, family-, early
childhood service-, and school-focused disaster
preparedness materials to support understanding of the
impact of disasters on children and strategies to
mitigate them; and
(D) jointly developing risk assessment tools for
communities to use in determining children's specific
disaster risks.
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