SAVE The Children is calling for more awareness of the needs of children in disaster responses.

The organisation says that two New South Wales inquiries into the state’s response to major flooding earlier this year have failed to address the significant impacts on children, leaving them more vulnerable to future disasters.

The catastrophic flooding in February-March caused widespread devastation and claimed the lives of at least 23 people.

Thousands of children were forced to flee their homes and unable to attend school.

Although the inquiries discuss how evacuations were poorly coordinated, the importance of community involvement in recovery efforts and the important role played by non-governmental organisations, the impacts on children and how services could have better responded to meet their unique needs were largely absent in the policy recommendations.

Matt Gardiner, CEO of Save the Children’s 54 reasons says that children who experience a disaster can suffer impacts to their physical or mental health and disruption to their education without tailored support.

“More space is dedicated to animal welfare than to children in one of these reports, which is extremely concerning given the impact of such disasters on children’s wellbeing.

“Unfortunately, this is a missed opportunity to learn how children experienced this disaster and how services could have better responded to meet their unique needs,” Mr Gardiner said.

Save the Children Australia made submissions to the NSW Independent Flood Inquiry and the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry calling on the NSW government to ensure the needs of children are systematically met in the immediate response to disasters through Child Friendly Space, as well as continued support after disasters.

“We should be doing everything we can to learn from recent disasters so that we can better protect children in the future,” Mr Gardiner said.

“It is also critical that governments enable children to participate in disaster preparedness, recovery and resilience activities in their communities, especially given they are the ones who will benefit most from reducing disaster risk and impacts as the climate crisis worsens.

Mr Gardiner says that governments should commit to ensuring that children’s services, such as child friendly spaces at evacuation centres and longer-term recovery programs are prioritised alongside other essential services in future disasters.

“We need to listen to children’s views as part of the recovery process, as they are disproportionately impacted by disasters, yet their voices are rarely heard.

“These reports show that Australia is underprepared for the realities of the climate crisis, and we hope they prompt stronger and more urgent action from governments.”

Save the Children responded to the floods through the deployment of Child Friendly Spaces within evacuation centres across flood-affected communities in NSW and QLD and have begun providing recovery support for children affected by the floods.

By Tara CAMPBELL