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Disability and Disasters

Co-ordinator: John Twigg (j.twigg@ucl.ac.uk)

Duration: July 2005 onwards (ongoing)

Page last updated: 26 September 2006.

The impact of natural disasters is heavily influenced by the degree of society’s vulnerability to the hazards concerned. This vulnerability is the result of the whole range of economic, social, cultural, institutional, political and psychological factors that shape people’s lives and create the environment they live in. In general, it is the weaker groups in society that suffer worst from disasters: the poor, the very young, women, those who are marginalised by ethnicity, and the disabled. Those who are already at an economic or social disadvantage tend to be more likely to suffer during disasters. Those who are disabled as a result of disasters face the prospect of increased marginalisation within their communities, new challenges in securing a livelihood and hence greater vulnerability to future disasters.

Little research has been done on the vulnerability of disabled people to disasters, the effectiveness of measures to protect them and the role of disasters in creating disability and vulnerability, especially in developing countries. This initiative is designed to help fill the gap. It is not a project in the conventional sense, with start-finish dates, targets or outputs; rather, it is a process of gathering and sharing information, encouraging dialogue that may stimulate new research and field initiatives in the longer term. It is also at this stage a voluntary initiative.

The primary aim at present is to identify publications and unpublished material on the subject (in print or online), field initiatives and people working in this field. An annotated list of publications, outlines of known reseach and field projects and details of key contacts will be updated periodically on this web page. Electronic publications will be reproduced on the web page or connected by internet links. This work will be ongoing.

Details of publications, initiatives and people working in the field are therefore welcome.

Click here to go to the annotated list of publications.
Click here to go to organisations working on disability and disasters.

Those who are interested in this subject are also recommended to visit:

• The ‘disability issues’ page of the Radix (radical interpretations of disaster) website, which has links to experts, organisations, publications and other information http://online.northumbria.ac.uk/geography_research/radix/disability.html

• The ‘Emergencies and Disability’ Key List on the Source website on health and disability issues worldwide (a collaboration of the Centre for International Child Health, Healthlink Worldwide, Handicap International and Exchange), which identifies a number of other documents www.asksource.info

• The HAZLIT online database index of documents in the library of the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Centre, University of Colorado http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/library/

• Disaster Resources for People with Disabilities and Emergency Managers http://www.jik.com/disaster.html

• DP2 – Disabled People and Disaster Planning, page with links to other resources
http://www.citycent.com/dp2/links.htm

• Duncan B 2005, ‘Selected Reports and Research on Needs of People with Disabilities in Disasters: international review’. Disability World no.27 (Dec 2005 – Jan 2006)
http://www.disabilityworld.org/12-01_06/disasterneeds.shtml
Review of recent literature regarding the inclusion of people with disabilities in planning for and responding to emergencies and disasters, both natural and manmade.

• National Organization on Disability, Emergency Preparedness Research Paper Directory
www.nod.org/emergency

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