Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State's recent statewide survey of Hurricane Katrina relief shelters will provide information to help match future resources and evacuee needs.
Developed by research scientists at the university's nationally recognized Social Science Research Center, the telephone canvass of nearly 50 shelters was conducted over successive weeks following the late-August Category 4 storm's battering of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
"We wanted to focus particularly on the needs of children," said Linda H. Southward, director of the SSRC's Family and Children's Research Unit. "Our survey showed that approximately 23 percent of shelter residents were children, and, of those, close to half were infants, toddlers or pre-schoolers.
"Given the magnitude of the disaster, we felt this was an important survey that will help future responses," she added.
The former director of MSU's social work academic program, Southward is the author of "About Children," a major reference published last year by Mississippi State and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
She said the research team discovered that shelter administrators often were creative in finding resources and were doing "an outstanding job" of providing basic necessities such as food and water.
"Most indicated they received supplies from the Red Cross, churches, businesses, and private donors," observed SSRC research associate Humphrey Costello. One shelter reported receiving supplies from FEMA, he added.
"From the data and from what shelter directors told us, there's clearly a need to coordinate children's activities, supplies and materials," Costello observed.
Research associate Heather Hanna said shelter operators also were asked about such resources as clothing, books and related educational materials, toys, health care, oral care, and mental health assistance.
In the matter of health care, she said researchers discovered a variety of opportunities for improvement, especially in the area of oral health care, which was identified as "an unmet need" by some 17 percent of those responding.
Noting that dislocation is a stress particularly affecting children, Hanna said, "We also identified a need for 'secondary' resources such as books, toys and educational materials."
Because adults must spend many hours standing in line and filling out forms, Costello said, "There's a real need to have resources available for children."
In addition to need assessments, the MSU survey also illustrated the magnitude of volunteer services in the Magnolia State.
"Volunteers were reported to have worked an average of 15 hours a week," said project director Linda Southward. "At the time of the survey, almost one-third of shelter directors said they anticipated a need for even more volunteers."
For more information about the MSU survey of relief shelters, contact Southward at (662) 325-0851 or linda.southward@msstate.edu.