Recognising and promoting the unique capacities of the elderly

Disasters tend to hit the poorest and most marginalised demographics the hardest. The elderly are particularly exposed to disaster risk and are likely to suffer from higher rates of mortality, morbidity and economic damage to their livelihoods. However, they are seldom given due consideration in disaster response for their specific needs and are often neglected particularly compared to children. Using a quantitative methodology, this paper evaluates whether age has an impact on the mortality rate, explores the age groups with the greatest vulnerabilities in the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake, China and the 1995 Kobe Earthquake, Japan. Multiple comparison analysis was applied to analyse the data. Results showed that there is a more significant relationship between the elderly aged over 75 and the mean mortality rate.