Children’s Mira: Listening to children during emergencies. A tool for conducting multi-cluster initial rapid assessments with children

Disasters harm all people but they affect children differently from the way they affect adults because children have distinct characteristics. Children rely on the support of their caregivers to be able to survive, develop and be safe. In times of disaster, children face greater risks because they may be separated from their caregivers or their caregivers are unprepared, overwhelmed, or have become incapable of supporting them. Hence, government and independent agencies that are delivering emergency aid must help caregivers to regain their capacities to support children and conduct their mission in a manner that promotes, respects, and protects the rights of children embodied in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).