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Forum / Kids at school during a quake.
Further response to question posted in Ask an Expert. N Parker asked: “Our meeting point is at our house. If some event happened in school time (big state school), would we be better to get home first, check out the house and then pick up kids. They are only 5 and 6 and I was wondering if they would be better off at school (depending on state of school) while we sorted house out. School is only 500mtrs from house. ” Response from Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management in the next post.
Aftershock - October 14, 2008 at 2:32 pm -
Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management advise:
Everyone’s personal circumstances will be different which is why we encourage you to work out beforehand what you will each do. First thing would be to check with your school to find out what arrangements they have in place. Schools have a responsibility to: “ensure the safety of students and staff at school during a civil defence emergency” and “make arrangements to look after the wellbeing of members of the school community who are at the school during a civil defence emergency.”
In an emergency situation most schools would have an arrangement where kids would not be allowed to leave unless an authorised person signs them out. So you would have to advise the schools what arrangements you want in place. Even though your home is so close to the school, it is probably safest if the kids stay at school until you or someone you have authorised to pick them up does so. The schools would probably prefer that parents collect their kids as soon as they can safely do so as they would have plenty to deal with. Younger kids would also be quite anxious as they wait for parents to pick them up.
There is helpful information that may help you talk to kids about disasters and what they can do at the following website:
http://www.whatstheplanstan.govt.nz/mcdem/index.html