Persons with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by disasters, and, if resilience of society as a whole is to be increased, their active participation is essential in the implementation of DRR activities. These facts were recognised earlier in 2015, when Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction was adopted in Japan.
As Badsha Miah, from Bangladesh, explains in the video above, through being part of a local 'Disaster Management Committee' and and Self-help Group, he assists persons with disability on different issues, ultimately strengthening the disaster preparation measures of his whole community.
Anjum Nahed Chowdhury, who works for a 'mainstream' development agency (GUK), says, "Previously, we assumed that it needs large funds and technical support to involve persons with disabilities into Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) programs, which has definitely been proven wrong.
"When we started working with CBM and CDD on our Disaster Risk Reduction programmes, we have learned that by only changing attitudes, a huge difference could be made. We know that persons with disabilities constitute a large part of our society, so excluding them makes comprehensive development impossible."