III 

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; 


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•SCON 94 IS

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; 


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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 

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

2 concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) the needs of children and youth affected by 

4 major disasters are unique and should be given spe5 cial consideration in planning, responding, and re6 covering to major disasters; and 

7 (2) the Federal Emergency Management Agen8 cy should consult with appropriate child-focused 

9 non-governmental organizations and public univerVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:14 May 12, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SC94.IS SC94

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1 sity national research centers with experience in ad2 dressing the needs of children in major disasters to 

3 address the needs of children and youth in disaster 

4 preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation, in5 cluding by— 

6 (A) incorporating suggestions from such 

7 organizations on children’s issues into the Na8 tional Response Plan; 

9 (B) seeking the recommendations of such 

10 organizations on how to address the needs of 

11 children in emergency shelters, trailer parks, 

12 and transitional housing sites; 

13 (C) jointly developing child-, family-, early 

14 childhood service-, and school-focused disaster 

15 preparedness materials to support under16 standing of the impact of disasters on children 

17 and strategies to mitigate them; and 

18 (D) jointly developing risk assessment tools 

19 for communities to use in determining chil20 dren’s specific disaster risks. 

Æ 


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