Disaster and Disability in Bangladesh - Behinderung und Dritte Welt

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A RTIKELdesh seeks to strengthen local governments RTI2005, Disaster Preparedness Forum 2003, Reportof the Online Forum on Disabled andOther Vulnerable People in Natural Disasters2006, K.R. Rajendra & Gopal Mitra 2008, FaizulKabir 2008, World Disaster Report ICRCS2007). On the basis of this contradiction andthe key measures of success taken from the CorporatePlan 2005 – 2009 of the BangladeshiMinistry of Food and Disaster Management,which describe how the future situation shouldbe after implementing the measures named inthe Plan, I designed a questionnaire for peoplewith disabilities and a guided interview withrepresentatives from NGOs.Results of the ResearchWhat did people with a disability and representativesof NGOs say when questioned? 30 peoplewith disabilities, most of whom were physicallyimpaired, filled in the questionnaire butonly 23 of the questionnaires were used for theanalysis. The shortcomings and doubts whichremained initially were especially related to directaid, the distribution of relief materials aswell as participation, empowerment and decentralisationissues. The UN/ISDR emphasizes theneed to build people’s capacity to cope withdisasters and the fact that people should participatein all disaster-related activities. Moreover,it states that, to make disaster-relatedmeasures more efficient, these should be on alow administrative level, resources should beavailable locally and strategies should correlatewith the specific local situation (UN/ISDR2006). These principles can also be found inthe Bangladeshi policies and strategies, buttheir practical implementation in communitiesseems to be a different issue. Here are some ofthe results from questioning people with disabilities.In terms of direct aid, 52% of people withdisabilities said they received enough aid, but70% were still convinced they did not receivethe same aid as people without disabilities.People with disabilities named various reasonsfor not being able to receive aid: they could notreach distribution points or shelter, they couldnot enter shelter, they were not able to queuefor a long time for aid, and they were treatedbadly or ignored by both aid-workers and fellowcitizens. Limited mobility and accessibilityas well as negative behaviour towards themseem to be the main reasons for people not receivingany, less or not enough aid. Accordingly,83% of the respondents said they felt discriminatedagainst in terms of aid.Concerning coping skills, disaster training isa vital part of a disaster-management systemand is often mentioned in the BangladeshiPlans or strategies, but nearly 90% of respondentshave never been trained for disastersituations. More positively: 52% of respondentssaid that trained volunteers can be found in thecommunity and, if preparedness measures aretaken, nearly half of the respondents were addressedor informed. But 61% still said that theyplay no part in preparing the community fordisaster and therefore do not learn more aboutprotective measures and how to implementthem. It seems that if disaster-related work isundertaken in the community, this is done withoutgreatly involving people with disabilitiesand without affecting their coping skills.Regarding participation, nearly 70% of peoplewith disabilities are not consulted or talkedto when the specific local disaster risks wereanalysed or before measures were implemented.Nearly 70% say that they do not participatein any decision-taking regarding disaster-relatedactivities and do not feel they can.On a more positive note, 22% say they can andalso do which shows that it is possible to bemore actively involved, e.g. through attendingmeetings or receiving disaster training. The localDisaster Committees which coordinate actionin the case of disaster become active onlywhen disaster strikes; this makes it difficult toapproach them and to discuss possible improvementsregarding their actions. Accordingly,most respondents have never approachedmembers of the Committees and do not thinkthey could. Nearly 90% of respondents do notknow the contents of their local Disaster Plan,specifying the disaster-related measures in thearea. These Disaster Plans are designed on ahigher administrative level and nearly one fifthof respondents state that the Plan was made incooperation with the community. 100 % of peoplewith disabilities said that they played norole in designing the Disaster Plan containingmeasures for their community.The number of people with disabilities participatingwas rather small and there was no directcomparison with the situation of peoplewithout disabilities. This makes it difficult togeneralise the results of the research, but theymight show a trend. Important aspects ofstrengthening people in pre- and post-disastersituations do not seem to have been implementedon a community basis and, although ithas been highlighted officially that people withdisabilities need more support, the situation forthem appears unchanged. For people with adisability, this is an extremely dangerous situa-28 Zeitschrift Behinderung und Dritte Welt 1/2010
A RTIKELtion: vulnerability due to disability and povertycombined with a disaster-management systemwhich does not reduce their vulnerability as itshould.Representatives from NGOsBangladesh has one of the highest numbers ofNGOs within its boundaries. The country wouldprobably collapse without their presence andthe money flowing through NGOs to Bangladesh.On the other hand, NGOs are also criticizedfor being too powerful in Bangladesh anddisenabling the Bangladeshi state by doing itsjob (“Growing discontent” The Guardian 2008).To obtain real insight into the disaster-managementsituation in Bangladesh, it was necessaryto speak to representatives from NGOs. As saidbefore, the guided interviews with five representativesof NGOs were based on the keymeasure of success set down in the CorporatePlan 2005-2009 of the Bangladeshi Ministry ofFood and Disaster Management and complywith the guidelines of the UN/ISDR. In this way,it was possible to get a better idea of the developmentsregarding the disaster-managementsituation, as the Corporate Plan was supposedto have been implemented during the previousfour years. These key measures of success include:“Coping capacities and decision makingare enhanced for a broader range of hazards,including possible impacts of climate change”or “Community risk reduction programmeshave a strong focus on issues of gender and thesocially disadvantaged” (Bangladeshi Ministryof Food and Disaster Management CorporatePlan 2005-2009). The five representatives fromNGOs had a different perspective on the disaster-managementsituation in Bangladesh andstated that there had been very few activitiesregarding people with disabilities from an officialside or that this had no or very little effecton their work. It has been officially stated thatpeople with disabilities have to be taken intoaccount; however, it is not, as one might expect,the government or official institutions, e.g.the Disaster Committees, which approachNGOs or other organisations experienced inworking with people with a disability, but NGOswhich are then forced to approach the Committeesto offer disability-related training to createa minimum of awareness.Following the statements of the interviewpartners, NGOs mainly support people in preandpost-disaster situations. For people withdisabilities, this means if the NGOs active intheir community take their needs into accountthey are lucky and their vulnerability might beconsiderably reduced; if not, they stay extremelyvulnerable. So disaster managementfor people with disabilities depends on thequality of the NGO’s work and their considerationof the needs of people with disabilities.Some interview partners stated that someNGOs, mostly only those working exclusivelyfor people with disabilities, include disability issuesin their work, e.g. when assessing disasterrisks, designing and conducting training sessionsor implementing warning systems. Whenit comes to decision-making and participation,some NGOs try to make people more aware ofpossible risks, how to protect themselves andhow to get involved in disaster-related measures,but people with disabilities are mostly nottargeted and do not attend community meetings.There are various reasons for this: inaccessiblevenues, no transport facilities, but veryoften people with disabilities do not feel it istheir place or right to take part actively. The interviewpartners added that there are only fewNGOs which have links to people with disabilitiesand aim their activities at them. All interviewpartners emphasized the fact that peoplewith disabilities receive less disaster-related informationand are also less aware of thethreats. People with disabilities also do not seekassistance from NGOs or government servicesas people without disabilities do. In addition,there is little awareness in the community regardingthe situation of people with disabilitiesin terms of disaster.The interview partners stated that NGOs donot depend on the Bangladeshi government butmostly on their donors’ rules and existing developmentaltrends. One of these trends followingthe ratification of the UN Convention on theRights of People with a Disability was mainstreamingdisability or social inclusion. Severalinterview partners stated that all their disasterrelatedactivities had been mainstreamed,which mostly meant people with disabilitieswere welcome, inclusive material was availableand venues were made accessible. Interestingly,mainstreaming disability was also criticized asuseless. After centuries of discrimination andexclusion, people with disabilities would notsuddenly start attending meetings and becomingactively involved. To reach people with disabilitiesefficiently, these have to be speciallytargeted, made aware and trained. In this way,they would stop being isolated and consequentlybecome more resilient.Zeitschrift Behinderung und Dritte Welt 1/201029
Page 1 and 2: 21. JAHRGANG AUSGABE 1/2010Behinder
Page 3 and 4: E DITORIALLiebe Leserinnen und Lese
Page 5 and 6: A RTIKELthat relationships matter a
Page 7 and 8: A RTIKELet al. 2002: 28). In such c
Page 9 and 10: A RTIKELthe patterns of families in
Page 11 and 12: A RTIKELConclusionThis paper has ad
Page 13 and 14: A RTIKELschaften in der Konstruktio
Page 15 and 16: A RTIKELder Frühförderung für Ki
Page 17 and 18: A RTIKELbeinhalten die Rahmenbeding
Page 19 and 20: A RTIKELschaffung und Nachsorge die
Page 21 and 22: A RTIKELderte Kinder die Chance auf
Page 23 and 24: A RTIKELMaking it WorkFrom Good Pra
Page 25 and 26: A RTIKELGood Practice? Best Practic
Page 27: A RTIKELDisaster and Disability in
Page 31 and 32: A RTIKELings, training and material
Page 33 and 34: B ERICHTEIncluding Persons with Dis
Page 35 and 36: B ERICHTEin the resolution back the
Page 37 and 38: B ERICHTEren Lernbedürfnissen und
Page 39 and 40: B ERICHTEwobei bislang kaum Bedingu
Page 41 and 42: K URZMELDUNGENKurzmeldungenAktionsb
Page 43 and 44: L ITERATURrung von Projekten zur in
Page 45 and 46: VERANSTALTUNGEN10.05. - 12.05.2010
Page 47 and 48: Zeitschrift Behinderung und Dritte

Disaster and Disability in Bangladesh - Behinderung und Dritte Welt

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