Vulnerable Sections

Answer: While disasters threaten the well-being of people from all walks of life, few are disproportionately affected, e.g., people with disabilities. They are especially vulnerable when disaster strikes not only due to aspects of their disabilities, but also because they are more likely to experience adverse socio-economic outcomes such as higher poverty rates. Disasters and poorly planned disaster response and recovery efforts can exacerbate these disparities, leaving persons with disabilities struggling to cope even more both during and after the emergency. Disproportionate impact of disasters on Persons with Disabilities (PWDs):

• Persons with disabilities are too often excluded from early-warning systems and evacuation processes, which may prevent them from fleeing a disaster in a safe and timely manner.
• Greater risk of being separated from their usual carers and assistive devices while fleeing, which could exacerbate their vulnerabilities during displacement. This adds to their trauma and delays recovery. For instance, following the 2004 tsunami, many people with disabilities in India, including children with intellectual disabilities, were left destitute after being separated from family members.
• The stakeholders and service providers working in the field of disability, often confront systemic gaps and challenges. For instance, there is near absence of appropriate disability- sensitive and disability-responsive policies, inadequate planning, etc.
• Also, the evacuation centres often lack necessary assistance and medical services required by people with severe disabilities and high care needs.
• PWDs are more likely to face discrimination and exploitation during and after the disasters, especially when the resources are scarce.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) 2006 and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2015-30 recognizes the disproportionate impact of disaster on PWDs and puts an obligation on the members to take concrete measures. India ratified the CRPD in 2007 and has taken following steps to make disaster management inclusive:

• National Disaster Management Guidelines on Disability-Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DiDRR), 2019: From mitigation to relief and rehabilitation, the guidelines consider almost all the areas of disaster management to make the entire process equally participative for the differently abled population. It also marked the responsibilities of ministries and departments from national to local level for carrying out inclusivity in disaster management.
• National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP): It contains a dedicated chapter on ‘social inclusion’ for such ‘more vulnerable’ sections of the population.
• Accessible India campaign: Its objective is to make it convenient for PWDs to access administrative buildings and transport, among other things. This will further strengthen the capacity of the differently abled to tackle disasters.

All these constructive steps initiated by the government are stepping stones in India’s journey towards becoming a disability inclusive society. These measures also open up possibilities to take the movement forward, introducing more need-based and disability sensitive strategies. The core principle to bring inclusivity in disaster management should be participation of the PWDs in planning process, non-discrimination and increased accessibility.