ABSTRACT
The psychological impact of disasters on children and adolescents is a subject of concern among mental health professionals (e.g., Eth & Pynoos, 1985; Figley, 1985; Garmezy, 1986; Leavitt & Fox, 1993; Meichenbaum & Jaremko, 1983; Terr, 1987; Wilson & Raphael, 1993). In this chapter, disaster is defined as an event that is relatively sudden, highly disruptive, time-lim ited, and public (Vogel & Vernberg, 1993), that is, community disasters. Community disasters involving schoolchildren take many forms. They can be grouped into natural (e.g., hurricanes, earthquakes), technology-related (e.g., toxic contaminations), and human-made disasters (e.g., shootings, hostage-taking, violent crime, suicides, wars; Klingman, 1993; Klingman, Sagi, & Raviv, 1993; Pynoos & Nader, 1993; Saylor, 1993). Post-hoc exami nations strongly suggest that organized community efforts and proactive
supports available to children and parents are crucial variables in affecting their responses to disasters (Hobfoil et al., 1991; Vogel & Vemberg, 1993). Because children and their parents are often best reached from within and via schools, a school-based intervention is a method of choice. Moreover, crisis intervention should aim at preserving functional, historical, and interpersonal continuities (Klingman, 1992a; Omer, 1991; Omer & Alon, 1994), at the levels of the individual, the family, the organization, and the community. For both children and parents, the school is a crucial functional community organization. Disruptions in the school system kindled by disaster should be either prevented or bridged as soon as possible.
