54 reasons, which delivers Save the Children’s services in Australia, is responding to severe flooding in the Northern Territory as hundreds of families are evacuated from remote communities with more heavy rain predicted in coming days.
Almost 800 people, including children, have had to be evacuated, leaving behind their homes, pets and belongings in order to seek safety and shelter.
A mobile Play2Learn program has been established at the Centre of National Resilience evacuation centre in Darwin, with staff also distributing activity packs for children.
Tricia Wake, 54 reasons Northern Territory Regional Manager, said children’s emotional and physical wellbeing must be prioritised in times of crisis.
“Experiencing a disaster can have long-lasting impacts to children’s development, their ability to build resilience and can even persist into their adulthood, if not properly addressed.
“It is critical that we systematically meet the needs of children in emergencies, including this disaster in the NT. Child-focused services should be treated as essential in the immediate response to any disaster.
“This latest flooding event comes on the one-year anniversary of the devastating Lismore floods as well as the major flooding events in Queensland and Western Australia, which makes clear that extreme weather events in Australia are becoming more frequent and intense due to the climate crisis.”
Save the Children works across the Northern Territory including on Groote Eylandt, Wadeye, Katherine and Darwin and has a long history responding to emergencies in the Top End, including to Cyclone Trevor in 2019, and across Australia, including the 2019-2020 bushfires and 2022 flooding in NSW.
