This collaborative project between Lancaster University and Save the Children is researching children and young people’s experiences of the UK winter 2013/14 floods. We are using creative arts methods to understand the children’s experiences and communicate their ideas to policy.

In emergencies while children and young people may have particular needs, they can also display resilience and contribute to informing and preparing themselves, their families and their communities. It is vital that we understand the effects of emergencies on children and young people so that policy can develop in ways that take account of both their needs and their contributions to resilience building, thus reducing the impact of future emergencies. However, children and young people are missing, virtually invisible to the emergency planning process in the UK and more widely, for disasters including extreme weather events, such as severe flooding.

Flooding is the UK’s most serious natural hazard with over 5 million properties at risk, and according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change we can expect more severe flooding over the coming years. The acute storms and floods in the UK during the winter of 2013/14 revealed a problem which is now understood to be chronic. This project works with two groups of children who were affected by these severe winter floods.

Project Aims:
1. To understand children's experiences of the flooding; the impact on their lives, their resilience and the longer-term recovery process.
2. To discover how children can best be supported in a flood and how to enhance their resilience to future emergencies.
3. To influence emergency policy and practice to better meet the needs and build the resilience of children and young people