Rota school undergoes child care disaster preparedness training

Edward Maratita Jr., center, poses for a souvenir photo with DCCA-CCDF Emi Pamintuan and Northern Marianas International School teachers after the training. (Contributed Photo)

Most people in the CNMI, the United States, or any U.S. territories have given more thought to emergency preparation following the tragedies of Sept. 11, 2001, Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, or Super Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013.

We hope the risk of this type of disaster is low; however, the possibility of disaster has always existed in the form of natural calamities: typhoons, tsunamis, earthquakes, fires, or floods.

Other emergency preparedness such as power outages, bomb scares, terrorism, or chemical spills may require evacuation of children to safe sites. Furthermore, transportation problems could delay parents and require the provider to care for children longer than expected.

“Regardless of the actual event, child caregivers should be prepared to provide safe, high quality care for children,” said Carmen H. Atalig, administrator/principal of the Eskuelan San Francisco de Borja on Rota.

“Disaster preparation for providers and teachers of young children requires development of policy and procedures, staff training, and practice. Also, it will give parents ease of mind to know that our facility has taken the time to train,” Atalig added.

As part of being a child care provider, Eskuelan San Francisco de Borja participated in the Child Care Providers Emergency Preparedness and Response Training held on Saipan.

The training emphasized the importance of awareness and commitment to disaster readiness, encouraged facility assessment of child care provider’s capability to respond, reinforced knowledge of child care providers on disaster readiness, promote the value of volunteerism to accomplish disaster-related initiatives, and upgraded individual facility’s disaster readiness Standard Operating Procedure.

Edward Maratita Jr., who attended the training, said: “It is in the best interest of young ones that child care providers partake in periodic exercises to test their emergency preparedness abilities. Disaster plans should cover multiple types of responses, including evacuation, shelter-in-place, and lockdowns.”

“The needs of each program or school are unique, depending upon number and ages of children, location, and available community resources,” added Maratita.

“With Mr. Ed’s [Maratita] knowledge and background in military and law enforcement, I feel content that our school is in good hands and not being worried as far as safety, coordination, and preparedness in the event of disasters,” said Atalig.

The administration, faculty and staff would like to express their appreciation to the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs’ Child Care and Development Fund Program, Maribel Loste, Emi Pamintaun, Leilani Marciano, and Rita Olopai. (ESFDB)