Disaster Mitigation and Persons with Disabilities Edward Tanzman Co-Director, Center for Integrated Emergency Preparedness Argonne National Laboratory February 23, 2010

Mitigation Reduces Disaster Risks and Consequences  Mitigation purposes: –Reduce community threats –Increase resilience among those affected  Examples: –Build structures only outside of floodplains –Install earthquake valves on natural gas pipes –Get influenza vaccinations  Challenges: –Typically requires investment without immediate payback –Favors the powerful when government funds are involved Go to ”Insert (View) | Header and Footer" to add your organization, sponsor, meeting name here; then, click "Apply to All" 2

Mitigation Benefits Persons with Disabilities Disproportionately  Greater vulnerability to disasters means greater benefits from risk reduction –Reduces response resource requirements –Reduces long-term recovery needs –Reduces instances of exclusion  Better overall availability of assistive technology also can be a disaster mitigation strategy –Increased access greater wealth more resilience –Greater assistive technology resources implies more options for their use during disasters Go to ”Insert (View) | Header and Footer" to add your organization, sponsor, meeting name here; then, click "Apply to All" 3

Needs of Persons with Disabilities Must Be Included in Mitigation Strategy Development  Education –Information about persons with disabilities (registries) –Benefits for persons with disabilities of mitigation –Benefits for community resilience of greater assistive technology availability –Impacts of disabilities on mitigation options  Tools –Data about assistive technology organizations and inventories –Methods to integrate assistive technology resources more fully into social support systems –Models to optimize assistive technology reuse benefits for mitigating community disaster risks Go to ”Insert (View) | Header and Footer" to add your organization, sponsor, meeting name here; then, click "Apply to All" 4