Natural disaster preparation: kids & teens

Natural disaster preparation for children, teenagers and families: why it’s important

Natural disasters are events like floods, cyclones and bushfires. Natural disasters can harm people and animals, damage the environment, and disrupt communities.

Natural disasters can happen quickly and without warning. Planning and being prepared can help you respond quickly and calmly. It can help you to keep your child and family safe and healthy.

How to prepare your home and family for natural disasters

It’s best to check your local council or emergency service website for information about:

natural disasters that are most likely to affect you
good ways to prepare for these disasters
local services and information sources that you might need if a natural disaster is coming.

You can also find information about preparing for natural disasters at:

It’s important to make a natural disaster action plan. The Red Cross RediPlan can get you started. Your action plan should include things like how to stay safe, when, where and how to evacuate, who to contact for help, who to tell your plan to, where to get up-to-date information about the disaster, and what to do if your family members get separated or are in different places when the disaster happens.

How to prepare children and teenagers for natural disasters

Preparing children and teenagers for natural disasters will help them feel safe, have a sense of control, learn useful skills and build confidence.

You can prepare your child by:

talking together about what to expect
involving your child in practical preparation for natural disasters
practising natural disaster responses with your child
familiarising your child with emergency services.

Talking with children and teenagers about natural disasters

Talking is an important part of preparing your child for natural disasters. You can make sure your child has age-appropriate information about what to expect and do if a natural disaster happens. And your child can ask questions and share their feelings.

Here are general tips to get you started on talking with your child about natural disasters:

Stay calm and confident.
Use language your child can understand.
Explain the natural disasters that can happen in your area.
Explain how your family will prepare for and respond to natural disasters.
Show your action plan to your child and explain why it’s important.

You might need to adjust what you say about natural disasters, depending on your child’s age. These examples can help.

Younger children
‘Heatwaves can happen here. During a heatwave, the weather gets very hot, and it can be hard to stay cool outside. To prepare, we’ll check the news so we know exactly when it’s going to be hot. If there’s a heatwave, we’ll stay inside in the coolest part of the house. We’ll drink a lot of water and wear loose clothes to stay comfortable.’

Older children and teenagers
‘Floods can happen here when there’s heavy rain and water levels rise quickly. To prepare, we’ll move important items to the highest level of the house, and we’ll use flood barriers like sandbags around the house. If there’s a flood, we’ll evacuate to higher ground and avoid floodwater because it can be dangerous.’

Involving children and teenagers in practical preparation for natural disasters

Being involved in natural disaster preparation is good for your child. It’s also good for you, because it means there are fewer things for you to do.

Here are preparation tasks for younger children:

Choose comfort items for their emergency bag, like a favourite toy, game and book.
Help you sort essential supplies, like food and drinks.
Draw a simple map showing safe places in the house or evacuation routes.

Here are preparation tasks for older children and teenagers:

Help you to create a checklist of essential supplies.
Check your existing supplies, and make sure none have expired.
Write down what you need to buy or replace.
Pack supplies into emergency bags.
Help with home preparation like bringing in outdoor furniture, and clearing leaves and other flammable material from around the house.

An emergency bag has all the items that you and your family need to stay safe and healthy during a natural disaster. When you involve your child in making an emergency bag, it helps them to feel safe, more in control, and more confident that things will be OK.

Practising natural disaster responses with children and teenagers

Practising natural disaster responses can help some children and teenagers feel less afraid and confused. For other children and teenagers, it can cause stress and anxiety.

If you think practising natural disaster responses will help your child, you can start by explaining to your child what your family will do.

For example, ‘If we hear about a bushfire, we’ll pack the car. If the bushfire gets close, we’ll get in the car quickly and drive to the evacuation centre’. Then you can do a practice run of packing and leaving.

As you practise, you can remind your child of why you’re planning and practising. For example, ‘We have a plan to keep everyone safe. We know what to do’.

Familiarising children and teenagers with emergency services

You can start by talking about how various emergency services help during natural disasters. For example, you could say, ‘Firefighters stop bushfires’, or ‘Paramedics care for people who are hurt and take them to hospital’.

You could also show your child pictures or videos of emergency workers to help your child recognise their uniforms and vehicles. For example, you could show your child a video of State Emergency Service (SES) workers and rescue trucks.

And you could take your child to children’s events run by emergency services. These events give your child the chance to interact with emergency workers and hear them talk about what they do.

Planning for natural disasters is particularly important if you have a child with disability, an autistic child or a child with other additional needs. Find out more in our article on natural disaster preparation for children and teenagers with disability, autism or additional needs.