U.K., UNICEF help in disaster preparedness

With
the opening of a new hurricane season, there is an emphasis like never
before on being prepared. News 5’s Jose Sanchez reports on the latest
efforts at making sure that our next disaster is dealt with calmly and
efficiently.

Jose Sanchez, Reporting After the wind, rains and flooding of
last year’s hurricane, organisations like the United Nations Children’s
Fund and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development
donated about hundreds of thousands of dollars to get the country back
on it’s feet. Though Keith is now a memory, the two organisations have
teamed up to prepare for the next disaster.

Miguel Ugalde, UNICEF Representative, Belize
“The climax of the project was to create an awareness of preparedness
for future hurricanes. So these manuals are training manuals for teachers,
students, children, and for community workers on how to be well prepared,
learning from the experience of Keith for the next emergency natural disaster
that happens. So it was very important, very good that we have these funds
from DFID that enriched the funds of UNICEF and we have been able to provide
not only rehabilitation and reconstruction, but preparedness.”

Dr. Shirlene Smith, a psychologist, developed a training manual to enhance
basic counselling skills and to help teachers identify post-traumatic
stress, which is usually a common disorder in children after they’ve had
a severe experience. Dr. Shirlene Smith, Psychologist “It’s
not necessarily only for a hurricane. But any traumatic experience they
may have had in their lives. The information that teachers get they will
be able to translate into working with those children. It’s composed of
two parts. There is a training manual that the trainer will use and we’re
asking that the person doing the training is somebody who has been trained
in advanced counselling. The workbook is for people to go through and
do the exercises that will facilitate to help their learning. It is hoped
that after this training, teachers will be better able to cope with trauma
in the classroom, be it minor one’s or major ones.”

Though teachers will be a primary source of therapy, UNICEF has commissioned
Charles Chavannes to design a colouring book for children, which addresses
stressful situations.

Charles Chavannes, Cartoonist
“The book deals with post-traumatic stress situation for children in
the aftermath of a hurricane. Children go through a lot of stress that
is not necessarily noticed by adults. So this book will get them to occupy
their time, first of all, and be able to understand that it’s okay to
feel what they are feeling.” Reporting for News 5, Jose Sanchez.

The materials will be distributed nation-wide.