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Disabled people are disproportionately affected by disasters owing to mobility difficulties in evacuation, lack of access to information or services and discrimination. When disasters occur, constraining external factors, such as unsafe roads and lack of accessible pedestrian and transport routes, create additional difficulties for coping with the situation. Developing cities vulnerable to disasters also are likely to have a greater proportion of the population with a disability, due to past injuries.

In this thematic brief, the importance of inclusive urban planning is emphasised. Urban mobility challenges relating to disasters discussed include: inaccessible disaster shelters, inaccessible means of evacuation and lack of information.

Case histories provided are: Building back better in Haiti; a focus on inclusive access and mobility; and Improving universal accessibility in Kathmandu, Nepal

Recommendations for improvements in policies and actions are given under the headings: 

1. Strengthening the policy and financial framework for safe and inclusive mobility action, based on evidence and through participative processes

2. Removing the barriers to safe and accessible mobility, focusing on: the built environment; transport and vehicles; people

The manual is structured in three parts.

• Part One “Epidemics of the 21st century” provides vital insights on the main features of the 21st century upsurge and the indispensable elements to manage them.
• Part Two “Be in the know. 10 key facts about 15 deadly diseases” contains key information about 15 diseases (Ebola Virus Disease, Lassa Fever, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, Yellow Fever, Zika, Chikungunya, Avian and Other Zoonotic Influenza, Seasonal Influenza, Pandemic Influenza, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Cholera, Monkeypox, Plague, Leptospirosis and Meningococcal Meningitis). This section provides tips on the interventions required to respond to epidemics of all these diseases.
• Part Three “Tool boxes” gives an overview and summarized guidance on some other important topics, including: the role of WHO, the International Coordinating Group, laboratory diagnosis and shipment of infectious diseases substances, and vector control.

The handbook enables the three levels of WHO – its Headquarters, Regional Offices and Country Offices to work efficiently together by building the foundations of a shared conceptual and thinking framework, which includes common terminology. 

This literature review seeks to gain a better understanding of the particular challenges faced by people with intellectual disabilities and those with mental health issues in Palestine and the refugee settings in Lebanon. An overview of the Palestine and Lebanon contexts is presented. Mental health and intellectual disability in situations of risk and the disproportionate impacts are discussed.  Access to and inclusion in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and humanitarian response are also discussed.

This policy paper defines the themes of inclusive disaster risk reduction and explains how these activities fit into the HI mandate. It also identifies the target population and defines modalities of intervention–standard expected outcomes, standard activities–as well as monitoring and evaluation indicators.

This article outlines lessons learned from 2015 Nepal earthquake that can be applied to future disasters to reduce overall disability-related outcomes and more fully integrate rehabilitation in preparation and planning. Information is presented on disasters in general, and then specficially on the earthquake(s) in Nepal. Field experience in Nepal before, during, and after the earthquake is described, and actions that can and should be adopted prior to disasters as part of disability preparedness planning are examined. Emerging roles of rehabilitation providers such as physical therapists during the immediate and postdisaster recovery phases are discussed. Finally, approaches are suggested that can be adopted to “build back better” for, and with, people with disabilities in postdisaster settings such as Nepal.

Physical Therapy, Volume 96, Issue 11, 1 November 2016, Pages 1714–1723

https://doi.org/10.2522/ptj.20150677

An overview of the life situations and locations of the world’s most vulnerable children based on results from the SOS Children’s Villages Programme Monitoring Database is presented. Risk factors are outlined and the percentages of each factors are reported. The Child Vulnerability Index (CVI) is given for a large number of countries

The role of rehabilitation professionals in responding to Sudden Onset Disasters (SODs) is evolving rapidly, and our professions increasingly find themselves at the forefront of emergency response teams. At the same time, there is a movement towards the professionalisation of the humanitarian response sector, in particular Emergency Medical Teams, and a recognition that specialist training is required to prepare professionals for work in an austere humanitarian environment. The intended audience of the manual are physiotherapists and occupational therapists who may deploy to provide rehabilitation in the immediate aftermath of a sudden onset disaster. It was developed to support volunteers on the UK International Emergency Trauma Register (UKIETR), but with the aim of being relevant to all rehabilitation professionals interested in rapid deployment to austere environments. The content is restricted to the context of sudden onset disasters such as an earthquake or tsunami, and has been developed to support work in an austere environment, where the type of equipment and support that is normally available has been disrupted. UKIETR professionals are UK based volunteers who receive specialist training to prepare them for international deployment as part of team in response to emergencies. They may be deployed within a multi-disciplinary foreign medical team in a field hospital scenario, or as part of a more specialist ‘cell’ offering niche medical, surgical or rehabilitation services. The manual is designed to complement the three day core rehabilitation training run by Handicap International which all UKIETR members must attend. It is a clinical manual, and the contents are directly linked to modules taught on the core training course. In addition there are a number of ‘cheat sheets’ and patient education resources at the back of the manual which are designed to be used in the field. Chapters include: rehabilitation and the UKIETR; introduction to rehabilitation following sudden onset disasters; amputee rehabilitation; spinal cord injury; peripheral nerve injury; fractures; burns and soft tissue injury; and acquired brain injury

This report is a supplement to the Technical Report 'Capacity Building for Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction in Indonesia'. Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DiDRR) is increasingly recognised as an important component of community resilience in the event of a natural disaster as documented in the recent outcome of the 3rd World Conference, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. Central to DiDDR is people with disabilities themselves and their capacities to participate in, and contribute to disaster risk reduction policies, practices and programs

The Practitioner Guidelines provide orientation to the Work Packages undertaken to build the capacity of people with disabilities in disaster risk reduction in Indonesia as part of the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Australian Development and Research Awards Scheme funded project, 2013-2015, Promoting the Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Disaster Management in Indonesia. These Work Packages formed one component of the project with knowledge transfer and capacity building supplemented by other methods within the project, including coaching and sponsoring participation of select trainees at key post-2015 DRR policy events

Children with disabilities are often excluded from disaster risk reduction (DRR) initiatives and, as a result, can experience amplified physical, psychological, and educational vulnerabilities. Research on children with disabilities during disasters is lacking, and their potential value in helping shape inclusive policies in DRR planning has been largely overlooked by both researchers and policymakers. This article highlights the existing research and knowledge gap. The review includes literature from two areas of scholarship in relation to disasters—children, and people with disabilities—and provides a critique of the prevailing medical, economic, and social discourses that conceptualize disability and associated implications for DRR. The article analyzes the different models in which disability has been conceptualized, and the role this has played in the inclusion or exclusion of children with disabilities in DRR activities and in determining access to necessary resources in the face of disaster. Finally, the study explores possible pathways to studying the contribution and involvement of children with disabilities in DRR.

International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, Volume 6 Issue 1