| Title: | Protection and participation of persons with disabilities in disaster management: Reducing risk and building resilience. | |
| Day and time: | (27) Martes - Tuesday - Mardi - 7 - 16:00 - 16:20 | |
| Presenter: | Douglas Reimer | |
| Organization: | UNICEF LACRO and CEPREDENAC | |
| Eje Temático: Thematic Area: |
Integrando la adaptación al cambio climático, el desarrollo y la reducción del riesgo de desastres Integrating climate change adaptation, development and disaster risk reduction |
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| Description: | The Sendai Statement stresses that disability inclusion in disaster risk reduction is critical for the creation of resilient, inclusive and equitable societies. Participation of persons with disabilities in all stages of disaster risk reduction, especially preparedness, is essential to increase their resilience and survival. At the same time, disability-inclusive disaster risk benefits all persons within the community, including older persons, children, pregnant women, and many other persons who could be under debilitating stress when a disaster strikes. UNICEF and the Central American Centre for Disaster Prevention (CEPREDNAC) will share a unique and important work done to help countries address the needs of people with disabilities in times of disaster. In Central America one of the most vulnerable and hazard prone regions of the world there are more than seven million people with disabilities. These people and especially children with disabilities are the most vulnerable and exposed when disasters strike. Striving to address this challenge, UNICEF and CEPREDENAC conducted a comprehensive study to obtain an overall view and understanding the situation of disability and DRR in Central American countries, and then with the full participation of people with disabilities and their related organizations, developed guidelines and protocols for attention and participation of people with disabilities. These have been endorsed by all of the member countries of CEPREDENAC and related preparedness measures designed to ensure their use in emergencies. The IGNITE presentation will describe the project and the results achieved with a view building awareness of the needs and the possibilities and encourage other organizations or governments to learn from and expand upon this critical area of work. |
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