Bangladesh: International disaster reduction day - Having a disability during a disaster can be hazardous

Bangladesh is fifth on the list of countries that are most prone to natural disasters. Disasters impact everyone but particularly people that are disabled. With over 16 million people living with a disability in Bangladesh, there is a significant potential issue on the horizon. International Disaster Reduction Day is on 13 October, and this article explains what the day is all about as well as expanding on its theme: Living with Disability and Disasters.

International Day of Disaster Reduction

The 13 October was designated by the UN as the International Day for Disaster Reduction to promote awareness of what people are doing to reduce the risk of disasters all over the world. This year’s theme of Living with Disability and Disasters alerts people to the vulnerability of the disabled during disasters.

Living with a disability is difficult at the best of times. When a disaster strikes the struggles of the disabled are amplified both during the disaster and in the aftermath.

Disasters in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is struck almost every year by a natural disaster, whether it be floods, cyclones, or tsunamis. With climate change, disasters are predicted to be more frequent and of greater magnitude. It also likely to cause a rise in sea levels of a meter (3.2 feet) by the end of the century. With the majority of Bangladesh being very close to sea level, this will have huge ramifications.

Disability in Bangladesh

Throughout Bangladesh, there are many people with disabilities. They are usually marginalized by their communities. Often, people do not understand the disability; sometimes, the cost of assisting a disabled person is too great. The Voices of the Marginalised project found three common themes in the life of a person with a disability:

1. work and dignity are rare;
2. public services are inaccessible;
3. bullying and violence are everyday experiences.

Being disabled in a Bangladesh disaster

With each disability type, different types of assistance are needed when a disaster occurs. For example, a blind person during a cyclone would simply need to be led to a cyclone shelter. A person in a wheelchair would need to be lifted onto a boat during flooding. The problem occurs when disabled people are not included in disaster preparedness plans.

What is being done?

Currently there are organisations that are trying to improve the lives of the disabled within Bangladesh, including two organisations the Centre for Disability in Development (CDD) and the Action on Disability and Development (ADD). CDD works to include disability priorities within disaster response and risk reduction (DRR) activities conducted by mainstream disaster management agencies and is part of the Disability-inclusive DRR Network for Asia and the Pacific (DiDRRN). ADD is part of the Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) Forum and, with 13 other national NGOs, aim to institutionalize the concept of community-managed disaster risk reduction in Bangladesh.

What still needs to be done?

There is some great work being done by a few individual organisations to prioritise the disabled into DRR policies, but the majority of DRR organisations never mention disability. This needs to change. To create this change there needs to be a fundamental shift in views towards people living with a disability, with further awareness-raising campaigns and organisations working in partnership to include the disabled within their plans.

What is the CLP doing?

As a livelihoods programme, the CLP does not specifically target people with a disability. Our target participants are the extreme poor. However, we’re well aware that the disabled, given their circumstances, often fall into this category. We ensure that our targeting criteria are applied correctly so that people with a disability are not excluded. The cornerstone of our programme, the Asset Transfer Programme, is not prescriptive. Participants can choose from a variety of different assets, thus there is likely to be something that will be suited to a disabled person. Our social development groups and training contain themes that cut across a wide variety of types of discrimination, whether these are gender- or disability-based. And we’re currently carrying out a study of DRR on the chars which will give us some insights into this issue, as well as the many other factors that chars-dwellers have to cope with during a natural disaster.