A Look at the Standards Gap: Comparing Child Protection Responses in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean Tsunami

Abstract

Through work with disaster-affected children throughout the world, the humanitarian community has incorporated child protection as an essential element of a country's first response to crisis. Three principles have emerged. First, responders must be guided by a commitment to both assistance and protection of children. Second, child protection efforts should reflect the principle of family unity. Finally, response and reconstruction must be guided by the continuity principle. This principle focuses on the importance of maintaining the child's existing individual, familial, organizational and communal strengths and resources.