Vulnerabilities of people with different types of disabilities in disasters: a rapid evidence review and qualitative research

Abstract

Despite the growth of disaster scholarship, the topic of how and why climate-related disasters and extreme weather events vary among people with different types of disabilities remains unexplored. To help fill the gap, this study draws on a larger research project that was co-designed by Water Sensitive Cities Australia at Monash University and the Hanoi Association of People with Disabilities, Vietnam. It utilised the dataset of a rapid evidence review of 33 studies, key informant interviews with 26 local stakeholders, and 52 interviews with people with various disabilities in Hanoi and Nghe An province, Vietnam. Using thematic analysis, we identified eight themes pertaining to socially-constructed difficulties facing people with disabilities: barriers to accessing disaster risk information and warnings; difficulties in understanding emergencies; challenges in communicating needs; evacuation and mobility hurdles; decreased sense of belonging and isolation; increased risk of getting sick; increased risk of developing mental health and behavioural disorders; and disrupted livelihood and loss of income.