Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 13th Oct. UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction in a new report released on Thursday urged the world must act on “unacceptable failures” to protect persons with disabilities from the damaging impact of living through a natural disaster.
UNDRR report stated that persons with disabilities face a “shocking lack of support” with no progress in the last decade, despite a huge increase in climate disasters worldwide, and that lack of progress could be a violation of international law.
The agency noted that persons with disabilities make up 16 per cent of the world’s population and suffer an overall death rate due to disasters that is two to four times higher than the general population.
The survey captured over 6,000 responses from 132 countries to evaluate progress on government policies that should be offering protection.
An initial survey focused on disability was conducted in 2013 and comes ahead of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction marked on the theme of fighting inequality.
The new survey found limited progress on disability inclusion over the past ten years, with no significant advances in any region.
It stressed that 84 per cent of respondents in 2023 reported not having a personal preparedness plan in case of a disaster, such as knowing evacuation routes, available shelters and stocking up on emergency supplies.
In 2013, this figure was 71 per cent, UN stated.
The 2023 findings showed that if sufficient early warning is provided, 39 per cent of respondents reported they would have no difficulty evacuating, compared to 26 per cent, if there was no warning.
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