Survey Finds Holes in Disaster Preparedness

Nearly two-thirds of parents in the United States say they would disregard orders to evacuate in a disaster and would rush to pick up their kids from school, according to a new survey.

The Associated Press is reporting that the survey by the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and the Children’s Health Fund found that 63 percent of parents would ignore orders from public officials and try to get to the their children, a move that could possibly hinder rescue efforts and add to traffic congestion.

What does that mean for emergency planners? For one, it could mean that despite years of government efforts to enhance disaster preparedness, schools need to do more to plan for disasters and parents need to be made aware of the plans. Among parents of school-age children, 45 percent said they do not know the location where their children would be evacuated as part of the school’s disaster plan.

“There should be an outcry from parents to push their schools and their school districts to develop a plan that makes sense,” Irwin Redlener, associate dean for public health preparedness at Columbia and president of the Children’s Health Fund told AP.