Aftermath of Katrina, kids still suffering

Aftermath of Katrina, kids still suffering five years later. It was not just the hurricane. It was not just the flood. It was what came after that increased the damage done to their lives. Dead bodies floating. Days without any help at all. Seeing their parents in a panic not knowing what to do or where to go for help. Then came the understanding life as they have known it was gone. They ended up living in different states after losing everything they found security in. Their clothes, toys, rooms they lived in, all gone. Their friends, school, churches and neighborhood streets they knew like the back of their hands gone. It was not all gone in an instant but a progression of loss they suffered for this one extreme natural disaster.

Tens of thousands of children still affected by Hurricane Katrina
By Michelle Brandt

As you may have read about elsewhere today, Hurricane Katrina struck five years ago this week. And according to a new Children's Health Fund/Columbia University report (link to .pdf), published in Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, some of the hardest-hit victims of the natural disaster and its aftermath were also the smallest. As outlined in a release today, there are still widespread mental health issues among children living in the region:

[Sixty percent] of children - as many as 20,000 - displaced by Katrina either have serious emotional disorders, behavioral issues and/or are experiencing significant housing instability
One-third of children are reported to have been diagnosed with at least one mental health problem, but fewer than 50% of parents were able to access needed professional services
Children post-Katrina are 4.5 times more likely to have serious emotional disturbance than children not affected by the disaster

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Tens of thousands of children