How To Maintain Your Child's Mental And Physical Well Being After An Earthquake

How do I maintain my child's mental and physical well being after an earthquake?

After a damaging earthquake, children can be under even greater stress than adults, because they really feel out of control. They are really relying on adults to be taking care of them more than even normally. They have a lot of questions about what's just happened. It's really important to be talking to your children -- really explaining why the earthquake happened, why the damage happened and involve them in that process of dealing with recovery- It helps them along. Also, be hugging them more often, be reassuring them that they're now safe and that they will be safe. Allow them to grieve if they've lost a favorite pet or a toy or something. Allow them to grieve. It's also important to make sure that your children are getting plenty of rest, plenty of nutrition and also recreation and having a chance to play even after the earthquake so they can start to recover from the earthquake.