Call for a disability-adjusted response to the Tsunami disaster
Experience from other emergency relief work shows that people with disabilities need specific attention in order to benefit from relief work. People with disabilities feel the impact of a crisis more intensely than other people but they are easily excluded in the emergency relief systems and thus aren’t able to benefit from them. Until now, there have been are no accurate statistics on the number of people with disabilities affected by the disaster or on the number of people who became disabled because of it.
On December 26th, the Tsunami hit many coasts in Southern Asia. The disaster evoked a massive worldwide relief response, but, even in this arena, people with disabilities remain invisible. This article is a collection of responses from Southern organisations to a discussion statement on the disability dimension in emergency relief work.
Discussion statement: “People with disabilities are forgotten in emergency situations” Not taken into account yet…
Two months on from the Tsunami and the situation for people with disabilities in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka remains bleak. To date there have been no statistics collated on their immediate needs, lost care-workers have not been replaced and very few disabled people (if any) have been consulted about the reconstruction process. It took three weeks for a request to be circulated about including the particular needs of people with disabilities in any assessment made of tsunami survivors. Yet neither government nor the NGO’s have incorporated this yet. Our recommendation: All future committees for disaster management must include a person with disabilities to raise awareness of their special needs in emergency situations. A.C.M. Rumaiz, General Secretary-Chief Executive of Child Vision Sri Lanka. Child Vision is a local NGO established in Puttalam, Sri Lanka and working for the benefit of children with disabilities. Website: www.childvisionlk.org. Contact by e-mail: childvision@sltnet.lk
Forgotten
People with disabilities are not visible in Sri Lankan society. As they are not seen by the programme planners, people with disabilities are unintentionally excluded from post Tsunami relief, reconstruction and building programmes. A number of NGO’s implementing post-Tsunami programmes have even reported that there are no people with disabilities in the Tsunami affected areas! Our remedy: Disabled peoples’ organisations should raise their voice and prove that people with disabilities exist in affected areas and that they need to be included in all post-tsunami relief programmes. Cyril Siriwardane, Secretary General of Disability Organisations Joint Front, Sri Lanka. Contact by e-mail: cyril@motivationlk.org
Exclusion
Disability is usually excluded in disaster policies, planning and implementation. When it is included, thought processes always begin with the assumption that disabled people are recipients of assistance and not contributors. The disaster management and itigation bodies of most governments do not automatically include representation from national, state and local agencies dealing with disabilities. Our solution: A community based approach in which disability is not only a medical or survival problem, but also a social one. Specific Programmes for Women with Disabilities during disasters need to be made re. the prevention of violence, economic empowerment and specific health issues. Ashok Hans, head of Shanta Memorial Rehabilitation Center (SMRC). SMRC is an Indian organisation run by people with disabilities. Contact by e-mail: asha1@sancharnet.in / no photo
More aggravated situations
People with disabilities are often overlooked in the development process. After the Tsunami, the more acute needs of persons with disabilities have soared. The WHO estimates that, as a result of the Tsunami, there will be a 20% increase in the population of people with disabilities, and a third to half of all affected people will suffer mental distress. In Thailand, the Tsunami caused more than 800 victims to be disabled. We now face greater numbers of immediate and long-term needs from people with different types of disabilities. Many helping hands were provided and yet, overall, inaccessible physical structures and/or information, and the simple lack of attention prevented people with disabilities from access to basic relief services, and opportunities to participate in community and livelihood reconstruction planning and efforts. Our wish: One size doesn’t fit all. Disabled people’s knowledge about an accessible community should be fully utilised. Disability perspectives should be incorporated into any community reconstruction efforts. Aiko Akiyama, project expert on disability. UNESCAP, Emerging Social Issues Division (ESID), Thailand. Website: www.unescap.org/esid/psis/disability/index.asp. Contact by e-mail: akiyama@un.org. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations.
Not considered…
Disabled people were not considered when planning the Tsunami relief effort in Sri Lanka as no information was available about their prevalence or needs. Media coverage of aid focused on food and clothing, not on assistive devices such as wheelchairs and hearing aids, keeping the needs of the disabled on the back burner. Internally, displaced peoples’ camps sprang up all over the coast, but the shelters donated and the toilets built were inappropriate for disabled people. Our answer: allocate funds properly and raise awareness about disabled people and their needs within the international community, so that they are drafted automatically into an emergency response. N.G. Kamalawathie, President of AKASA. AKASA is the Association of Women with Disabilities in Sri Lanka. Its goal is to prevent people with disabilities from being excluded. Contact by e-mail: akasa7@sltnet.lk DCDD wrote a letter to all Dutch aid organisations involved in the emergency aid and reconstruction after the Tsunami asking that attention be focused on people with disabilities. This letter has been published online at www.dcdd.nl?2556 (in Dutch language only). This article is published in DCDD's newletter 10, contents of the newsletter and for downloading the newsletter please click www.dcdd.nl?2624