Inclusion builds resilience | Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD)

‘Inclusion builds resilience’ is the clear message from persons with disabilities to the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.

Significant progress has been made but more needs to be done on inclusion and accessibility across the board, from physical infrastructure to early warning announcements, delegates agreed.

In a clear example of what can be achieved, participants at the working session, ‘Proactive participation of persons with disabilities in inclusive DRR for all’, watched a dramatic representation from one community-based housing initiative for persons with severe psychosocial disabilities.

Using drama to portray challenges of anticipating disaster events – where residents face difficulties with panic and hallucinations – Bethel House, in Urakawa Town, Hokkaido, successfully evacuated within five minutes of the alarm sounding for the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Regular revisions of the plan, based on group drills, enabled the residents to handle the emergency.

The CEO of the Pacific Disability Forum, Mr Setareki Macanawi, also emphasized the importance of “full and effective” participation of persons with disabilities: “Disaster risk management that includes everyone, including persons with disabilities, contributes to sustainable development.

“All disaster risk reduction practices need to be multi-hazard and multi-sectoral based, inclusive and accessible to be effective. I leave you with the words of Desmond Tutu: ‘My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together’.”