Children are often ignored in disaster related planning and policy development. This collaboration between Lancaster University and Save the Children researched children and young people’s experiences of the UK winter 2013/14 floods. We used creative arts methods to work with flood-affected children and communicate their ideas to policy. Watch our 6 minute film…

In emergencies while children and young people may have particular needs, they can also display resilience and contribute to informing and preparing themselves, their families and their communities. It is vital that we understand the effects of emergencies on children and young people so that policy can develop in ways that take account of both their needs and their contributions to resilience building, thus reducing the impact of future emergencies. However, children and young people are missing, virtually invisible to the emergency planning process in the UK and more widely, for disasters including extreme weather events, such as severe flooding.

Flooding is the UK’s most serious ‘natural’ hazard with over 5 million properties at risk, and according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change we can expect more severe flooding over the coming years. The acute storms and floods in the UK during the winter of 2013/14 revealed a problem which is now understood to be chronic. This project works with two groups of children who were affected by these severe winter floods.

The project is funded through the ESRC Urgency Scheme, and is led by Professor Maggie Mort with co-investigators Dr Amanda Bingley, Dr Marion Walker, Dr Alison Lloyd Williams from Lancaster University and Virginia Howells of Save the Children UK in an unique collaboration between Lancaster researchers and this major charity.