Safety Needs of People with Disabilities during Earthquakes

Aryankhesal, Aidin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6695-227X, Pakjouei, Shahrzad and Kamali, Mohammad (2018) Safety Needs of People with Disabilities during Earthquakes. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 12 (5). pp. 615-621. ISSN 1935-7893

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

Objective The needs of people with disabilities are not taken into account during disasters, and there is no or little preparation for them. Hence, such people are very anxious about their personal safety during disasters. The aim of this study was to explain the safety needs of people with disabilities during earthquakes.Methods This qualitative study was conducted with purposive sampling. A total of 12 people with movement disability, aged between 18 and 60 years, and with an experience of facing earthquakes, participated in semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was used.Results The safety needs of people with disabilities were categorized into three phases: those before an earthquake were considering building codes and resistant construction, building safe and resistant-to-climate-change shelters, and securing the room at the home and workplace; that during an earthquake was the existence of personal protection facilities; and those after an earthquake were adaptation of bathrooms in secure areas, prioritizing conex containers instead of tents, and sheltering in a safe and vermin-free area.Conclusions The sudden death of people with disabilities during disasters is preventable through proper planning and preparedness of emergency personnel. Hence, identifying the safety needs of these people and inclusion of such plans in disasters management systems can assure safety for people with disabilities during disasters. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:615-621)

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © Copyright Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2017.
Uncontrolled Keywords: earthquakes,needs,people with disabilities,safety,shelter,public health, environmental and occupational health,sdg 3 - good health and well-being,sdg 13 - climate action ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2700/2739
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Health Sciences
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 04 Nov 2022 09:31
Last Modified: 07 Nov 2022 00:50
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/89605
DOI: 10.1017/dmp.2017.121

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item