Adults can devise opportunities to help children find ways to take age-appropriate family responsibilities as well as help someone else. Such things as setting the table for meals would help the family and visiting an older person in the neighborhood would help someone else. Children and particularly adolescents need to be provided with opportunities to participate in projects and community recovery efforts. Strengthen support systems. Support systems are crucial to recovery.
Survivors respond to active interest and concern.
Recognize that healing takes time. People need time to mourn their losses and support to feel less victimized and more in control of their lives. This is especially true for flood victims whose recovery can be thwarted as a result of the seemingly endless amount of time that flooding creates before cleanup can begin. Consider alternative school settings in order to establish educational routines. It is important to recognize that in large scale flooding, often schools are destroyed along with homes and businesses.