5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014 Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice 24-28 August 2014 in Davos, Switzerland

1. Improving Assistance
to People with Disabilities
in Disasters and Crises
some thoughts from Europe
David Alexander
University College London

2. • review
• guidelines
• recommendations

3. Setting
the scene

4. Most of the innovations and advances
in assisting people with disabilities in
disasters and crises come from the local
(or possibly regional), not national level.

5. BUT… You are an emergency manager:
You have to plan for emergencies
• your budget is limited
• cuts are envisaged
• your expertise, training and
personnel are inadequate
• your resources are inadequate
What are you going
to do about people
with disabilities?

6. What is disability?
(permanent or temporary)
• mobility problems
• blind, partially sighted
• hearing impairment
• cognition, communication
and expression difficulties
• medical problems
• support systems for vital functions
• intolerance of environmental
and chemical substances
• psychiatric disturbances, panic attacks
• infirmity associated with old age.

7. The challenge

8. Emergencies and disasters create barriers
• mobility impairment:
a barrier to evacuation
• hearing, sight and cognition impairment:
barriers to receipt of warnings
• obstacles to communication
• loss of electricity for support equipment
• shortage of assistance.

9. In an emergency it may be difficult
to recognise the type of disability
a person has.

10. The needs of people with disability
vary with the type and
seriousness of the disability:
• high dependency on essential services
• transport and mobility
• ability to evacuate
• adapted accommodation when evacuated
• how to ask for assistance
• needs of service animals.

11. Emergency planning is usually orientated
to catering for large groups of people:
citizens with disabilities
need individual attention.
It is not a good strategy to merge
assistance to people with disabilities
with that given to other groups
(ethnic minorities, single mothers, etc.).

12. Some strategies

13. Who are the people with disabilities?
• is there registration?
• does it cover all people
who may need assistance?
• are the data accessible
to civil protection?
• what alternatives to registration?

14. Emergency planning arrangements
for care homes
• evacuation and temporary shelter
• specialised evacuation of fragile people
• continuity of medication and treatment
• monitoring people's condition
• "No one should be left behind".

15. Anti-discrimination monitoring (and
eventual correction) to be applied to:
• planning
• alert
• warning
• emergency response
• evacuation
• respite
• transitional shelter
• recovery.

16. Relevant instruments
United Nations
WHO

17. Conclusions

18. We need to think of disabilities as a
challenge to produce a better society,
not a problem to weary us.
Emergency planning for
people with disabilities
should be part of the
'design for all' initiative.

19. Regarding people with disabilities,
there is a knowledge, planning and
implementation shortfall in civil protection
• lack of data on needs
• lack of integration and co-operation
among organisations pro people with
disabilities & civil protection authorities
• no general standard exists for
emergency planning and management
for people with disabilities; there
are only small pockets of innovation.

20. Summary of needs and goals:-
• political commitment
• co-ordination and continuity
• networking
• knowledge management
• identification and
optimisation of resources
• planning
• exercising
• education and training.

21. Thank you for
your attention!
david.alexander@ucl.ac.uk
emergency-planning.blogspot.com
www.slideshare.net/dealexander