Krishna Revathi N, Ronan Kevin R, Alisic Eva
Monash University Accident Research Centre, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
School of Human, Health and Social Sciences, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Australia.
Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2018 Jun 26;9(Suppl 2):1486122. doi: 10.1080/20008198.2018.1486122. eCollection 2018.
Little is known about children's experiences and involvement in disaster preparation and recovery, in particular in low- and middle-income countries. Eliciting community members' perspectives on the 2015 floods in Tamil Nadu, India, may generate useful insights for improving services in low-resource settings. This qualitative study aimed to understand how children in Chennai experienced the floods, as reported by the adults in their community, and to explore children's involvement in disaster preparedness, response and recovery efforts as reported from the adults' perspective. We conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews ( = 48) with family members ( = 36), and with staff of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) ( = 12) who actively participated in relief and recovery efforts. We also conducted two focus group discussions ( = 14) with NGO staff about a year after the 2015 South Indian floods in Chennai, India. Six broad themes regarding children's experiences and behaviours during and after the floods emerged: (1) unexpectedness of the floods; (2) children's safety - barriers and facilitators; (3) parents' reactions - helplessness, fear and pride; (4) children's reactions - helping hands, fun and fear; (5) barriers to a return to 'normal'; and (6) a determination to be prepared for next time. Children and families were deeply impacted by the floods, in part owing to a lack of preparation, as perceived by the study participants. It was also clear from the data analysis that caste and socioeconomic status played an important role in the families' ability to evacuate safely. Helplessness on the part of the parents was apparent, as was children's concern over recurrence of the flood. Similarly, gender appeared to affect child safety, recovery and other outcomes such as continued education. Priorities for future efforts involve the development and evaluation of child-centred education about flood awareness, child participation and safety.
对于儿童在灾难准备和恢复过程中的经历及参与情况，人们了解甚少，尤其是在低收入和中等收入国家。了解印度泰米尔纳德邦社区成员对2015年洪水的看法，可能会为改善资源匮乏地区的服务提供有益见解。这项定性研究旨在了解钦奈儿童在洪水中的经历（据其社区中的成年人报告），并从成年人的角度探讨儿童在灾难准备、应对和恢复工作中的参与情况。我们对积极参与救援和恢复工作的家庭成员（n = 36）和非政府组织（NGO）工作人员（n = 12）进行了深入的半结构化访谈。在印度钦奈2015年南印度洪水发生约一年后，我们还与NGO工作人员进行了两次焦点小组讨论（n = 14）。出现了六个关于儿童在洪水期间及之后的经历和行为的广泛主题：（1）洪水的意外性；（2）儿童安全——障碍和促进因素；（3）父母的反应——无助、恐惧和自豪；（4）儿童的反应——援手、乐趣和恐惧；（5）恢复“正常”的障碍；（6）为下次做好准备的决心。儿童和家庭受到洪水的严重影响，部分原因是研究参与者认为缺乏准备。数据分析还表明，种姓和社会经济地位在家庭安全撤离的能力方面发挥了重要作用。父母的无助显而易见，儿童对洪水再次发生的担忧也是如此。同样，性别似乎影响儿童安全、恢复以及其他结果，如继续教育。未来工作的重点包括开展和评估以儿童为中心的洪水意识教育、儿童参与和安全方面的教育。
