The Forgotten : How The Disabled Are Left Out Of Disaster Preparedness

Sudden-onset of natural disasters disrupts daily life and, in the worst cases, causes devastation. Disasters are occurring at a rate many people cannot absorb psychologically and financially. Therefore, affecting people’s decisions to move away from disaster-prone areas, mainly if they were displaced, lost their possessions, or had a traumatic experience. To help alleviate some of these effects, FEMA has not only developed mitigation planning guides for local governments to adopt as a guide but also serves a starting point for reducing such disasters. (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2003). Political leaders, influential residents, fire department, police department and other participants are involved in the planning process in identifying

54 million Americans have a disability. Said more clearly, one in five Americans have a disability. Extended globally there are more than 610 million people in the world with some sort of disability or special needs (Manning-Schaffel, 2007). Upon reviewing most available market analysis it is apparent that this group is not being directly market to on a large scale. Likewise there is both a great need and many new opportunities as technology quickly advances. From a financial perspective this group is spending $8.8 billion USD worldwide on assistive devices primarily being pushed through medical representatives. This market is projected to reach $11 billion USD by 2015 and to continue at a 5%+ growth rate thereafter ("Assistive devices

The stress of a disaster can cause significant challenges for anyone, but it is especially difficult for people living with disabilities. There are 8.5 million people living in New York City and according to the New York City Mayors Office of People with Disabilities, in 2016, roughly 948,208 people were living with a disability, accounting for about 11.2% of the population (Calise, 2016). Individuals with disabilities are disproportionately affected in disaster, emergency, and conflict situations due to inaccessible evacuation, emergency response, and recovery efforts. Research has shown that people with disabilities are more likely to be left behind during an emergency evacuation due to the lack of education and preparation for this population (Disaster Preparedness, 2015). People with disabilities also carry the stigma that they need more extensive and complex medical care giving the perception that they deplete medical resources quicker. This potentially

According to UNISDR (2009), disaster can be defined as “a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.” Disaster risk is the combination of likelihood of a catastrophic event occurring; the exposure to the affected areas; and vulnerability of the affected communities or country (Global Reinsurance Forum, 2014). The impacts of disaster risk include not only loss of life and physical damages but also increase the potential outbreak of secondary hazards such as diseases and negative effect on physical, mental and social wellbeing of human being, services, social, economic and environment sectors. Disaster risk management include avoiding or mitigating the potential of hazard occurrence and exposure and reducing the vulnerability level by strengthening the tangible and intangible capacities.

Disasters can occur at any moment, anywhere; financial and human consequences are very difficult to predict. Disasters, over the last century have been increasing at a rapid rate as over 50% of events require Federal assistance. (FEMA, 2014) Federal mitigation plans and programs reduce the impact of a given disaster also with our dependence on taxes, Treasury for relief. Mitigation is the effort to reduce loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters. (FEMA, 2014) In order for Mitigation to be effective we need to understand risks, choices, investment, and well-being. Mitigation has extreme value to society in general. It provides safer communities due a reduction in

People with disabilities constitute the nation’s largest minority group. There are approximately 50 million Americans with Disabilities. Worldwide the figure is estimated at around 1 billion. (West’s) Of the 6.6 million American families, more than 20 million reports having at least one disabled family member. (Disability in America)

People with disabilities are constantly overcoming obstacles only to encounter more. According to the United Nations, “the term ‘persons with disabilities’ is used to apply to all persons with disabilities including those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various attitudinal and environmental barriers, hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others” (United Nations, 2007). The prevalence of persons living with a disability nationwide is unknown, due to

Serious, or chronic, illness and disabilities affect nearly 72 million working age adults, which is 39 percent of the working population in the United States (Tu and Cohen, 2009). Serious illnesses are ailments that are protracted, do not resolve spontaneously, and are rarely cured completely (Centers for Disease Control, 2009). Similar to serious illness, disabilities tend to be longer-term conditions. The Americans with Disabilities Act defines people as disabled if they have an impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such impairment, or are regarded as having such impairment (United States Department of Labor, 1996).

A disaster is an event that is a natural or man-made occurrence that can disrupt or destroy the lives of those it affects (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2014). Management of a disaster includes four phases; prevention, preparedness, response and recovery (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2014). Hawaii’s isolation in the pacific lends itself to the possibility of many disasters from; floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, pandemics, and volcano eruptions (Schaefers, 2014). The purpose of this paper is to study emergency preparedness and response to

Vulnerable populations such as individuals with physical disabilities require more specific nursing care, whether it is in a hospital setting or out in the community. According to the Physical Disability Council of North West Sydney (2009), "physical disability pertains to total or partial loss of a person’s bodily functions (ex. walking, gross motor skills, bladder control etc.) and total or partial loss of a part of the body (ex. an amputation)". John Hopkins University states, “physical disabilities result from congenital conditions, accidents or progressive neuromuscular diseases” ("Physical Disabilities"). Physical disabilities have varying degrees of severity; the same disability can affect individuals in different ways. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2015), in the United States there are “35.2 million or 15% of adults with a physical functioning difficulty”. Having a physical disability is not a lifelong debilitating sentence for all; many people with physical disabilities have jobs, families and lead a fulfilling life ("What is Physical Disability?").

By the data of WHO, 10% of world’s population are disabled, including 150 million children. In

Disaster from natural, conflict or technological sources threaten people’s lives and health; limit and increase uncertainty of people’s livelihoods and other socio-economic activities. Hazards, as well, severely undermine economic access and competitiveness and compromise governance system in any urban setting. The world's big cities are rapidly becoming more exposed and more vulnerable to natural and man-induced hazards and disasters. Hazards and disaster destroy both natural and built environment, contributes to increase in the number of displaced persons; erodes development gains and limit structural stability of the urban centres.

Approximately 15% of the world’s population is, in a way, disabled. Whether it is a physical disability or a serious chronic disease, we have about one billion people in the world that live with a disability every day of their lives. It often occurs that these people are seen as an outcast of society; people that cannot live normal lives. It is important to realize that this is not true at all. People with disabilities are completely able to be part of the world. It is just the world’s duty to accept them.

Reporting to the Japanese Cabinet, a panel researching on potential disasters reported the potential of 30-35 meters high disaster hitting Tokyo and other regions in future. The over-reliance on nuclear energy in some of these regions also poses a major threat whenever such disasters strike. The Southwestern Ohi Nuclear power plant was restarted amidst protests from the public. This shows some degree of awareness on the public’s side. Indeed, previous disasters have played a vital role in educating the public on ways of preventing and mitigating further losses in future. On one hand, educating alone may not yield the expected results in terms of disaster prevention. On the other hand, educating the public has been vital in disaster mitigation (Earthquake Engineering Research Group, 2008).

Natural and artificial disasters have always posed a threat to the development of countries across the world. In that regard, different governments have already established strategies that can be implemented to deal effectively with the disasters, which occur. It has been observed that the developing countries are slightly behind than the developed ones regarding dealing effectively with the disasters that occur abruptly. When a disaster occurs, the priority is to reduce the vulnerability of people to hazards such as terror attacks and natural disasters. Therefore, to save human lives and also reduce property damage, in the long run, disaster analysis is a very important part in disaster management.