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Save the Children deploys emergency response team to care for the unique needs of children in Gulf Coast.

Save the Children has dispatched an emergency response team to the Gulf Coast to expand its ability to assist children and families who might be displaced by Hurricane Gustav, which is bearing down on the Louisiana coast as a possible category-3 storm.

Save the Children — which assisted over 190,000 children and caregivers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama after Hurricane Katrina — continues to provide long-term education and nutrition programs in the Gulf region.

Save the Children has been operating children-focused programs on the Gulf Coast since Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans three years ago on August 29th. Forecasters are predicting the new storm could strike New Orleans early next week which is why Save the Children’s programs focus on not only helping children and communities recover, but also on preparing for new emergencies.

Save the Children staff members are preparing to hand out 1,500 children's evacuation backpacks at the two mass shelters that are being set up in Louisiana in anticipation of a major evacuation of families from the Gulf Coast.

Save the Children is also prepared to establish safe spaces for children in shelters. The agency has pre-deployed kits to set up safe spaces in shelters established by the Red Cross, with whom Save the Children has partnered, to ensure the protection and well-being of children. Save the Children also plans to work to ensure that child-care centers can quickly re-establish services and schools can rebound so students do not fall behind in their education.

Find out how you can help children by reading Save the Children's Ten Tips for Helping Children Cope with Disasters

Learn more about how Save the Children is responding to Hurricane Gustav
On behalf of the children,



Charles MacCormack
President and CEO
Save the Children