Children Need Help Coping with Disaster
Natural disasters cause stress for people of all ages, but adults may need to provide extra help for children coping with disaster.
A child’s reaction to disaster will vary depending on age, maturity, and previous experience. Many children express common fears during or after a disaster. These fears may be caused by the dark, loud noises (thunder, lightning, heavy rain), or scary news on television. Children have trouble understanding what the disaster is and why it happened.