Disaster Planning in Australia: How Empowerment Is Key to the Safety of High-Risk Groups
Over the last decade, disaster planning strategies have become increasingly important worldwide. “What if something happens one day?“ has long since transformed into: “immediate action required.“ Over the last few years, we have seen a global rise in emergencies requiring disaster planning strategies. With the outbreak of COVID-19 and the effects of climate change, governments around the world have begun investing significantly more in protecting against tornadoes, floods, and other disasters. Very often, though, high-risk groups such as persons with disabilities or elderly people are left behind. They aren’t part of these strategies, or aren’t being considered enough. One main reason is that, in many cases, they aren’t involved in developing them.
When An Activist Was Born
Clare Gibellini is an Australian disability activist who has made it a main priority to advocate for better disaster planning strategies for high-risk groups. She had been a disability activist for a long time, but only in 2022 did she develop a strong interest in disaster planning strategies. “In 2022, I went to the Conference of State Parties on the CRPD in the UN in New York,” she recalls, “At that time, I didn’t know anything about disaster planning, emergency management, or anything related. However, it was one of the themes at the event that year. Where I live in Western Australia, we don’t have many disasters. We get fires, but we are not a flood area. So I didn’t have much personal experience. But that year, a friend of mine had just experienced flooding in the area where she lived, the war in Ukraine was four months old, South Africa was experiencing floods, and Pakistan went underwater only two days before the conference. And we were talking about all the atrocities happening to people with disabilities, but also how people with disabilities made an effort to cause change, by, for example, helping in hospitals. And I thought: If they can do this under these conditions, there surely must be something that I can do.”
Learning About Disaster Planning From Within
Gibellini began attending conferences on disaster planning and risk reduction in her area. One of the things she remembers striking her was that it seemed like nobody knew what disabled people needed in a catastrophic situation. “And I thought: That’s not good enough! But to better understand the system, I needed to be part of it. And so I signed up to become a volunteer emergency service person in my area.” She says it is a tremendous advantage to be part of the community she serves because she understands the systems and challenges they face.
Clear Standards Are Missing
One of the problems Gibellini faces as a global activist is that many countries have strategies for high-risk groups, while others have none at all. Even in countries with such strategies, they’re often poorly thought through. In contrast, Australia has disability-inclusive emergency management strategies developed by people with disabilities and aimed at empowering high-risk groups. These include programs that prepare communities for catastrophes, help high-risk groups find evacuation centers, and ensure new centers are accessible. Another key approach is connecting people within communities, since loneliness and isolation are among the most dangerous aspects during a disaster. Given Australia’s federal system, in which states run their own programs, it is almost impossible to have a single nationwide strategy. However, Gibellini sees this as a plus: “People with disabilities are different and have different needs. There is no ‘one size fits all,’ so having different approaches can actually help show the different opportunities you have to keep people safe,” she says. Additionally, it is important to keep track of homes for elderly or disabled people, as well as areas where indigenous populations live—many of whom don’t speak English—making it crucial to ensure training or safety materials are translated.
Still, Gibellini thinks those plans don’t translate well to practical use. “In Western Australia, where I live, about 95 percent of the emergency services are volunteer-led. So the theoretical strategies don’t necessarily always translate to the ground,” Clare says. For instance, this applies to the currently operational national alert system, which includes disabled people. “Yellow means stay tuned, keep an eye on it. Orange: get ready to move. And red is evacuated now. Unfortunately, the local government does not open evacuation centers until it’s at red, and that’s often too late to mobilize people with disabilities,” Gibellini explains.
Another problem is that, in many cases, emergency workers lack the facilities to help disabled people leave their homes. For this reason, Clare Gibellini advocates greater empowerment of disabled people and better education for those who provide assistance or care. She adds, “I always tell others with disabilities to visit the community centers that serve as evacuation centers, if possible. That way, they know if those are accessible to them. Unfortunately, many old buildings used as evacuation centers aren’t accessible.”
Registering Disabled People?
A big global discussion amongst disability activists and disaster planning experts is whether it makes sense to have a register of people who are at high risk in a catastrophic event. In Australia, so far, the opinion of activists is rather not to have one: “The way disabled people are the safest is if they can make their own plans and not necessarily sitting back and relying on the emergency services coming to the door to get them,” Gibellini explains. “If people think someone will come and get them, they are less likely to take action when they need to,” Gibellini says. Another important factor is that local service providers that cater to people with disabilities should be better informed about what may be happening in their area, so they can act proactively rather than wait until the alert turns red. It is crucial that disabled people get mobilized as early as possible, because when a disaster strikes, they cannot just call their support worker or a taxi to pick them up.
Empowerment Means Active Involvement
Gibellini says people with disabilities are part of the solution. “Leaders often see evacuating disabled people as a problem, not as a chance for community members to help solve the real issue.”
Australia teaches us that disaster planning for high-risk groups really is all about empowerment. In a large country like this, with a diverse and widespread high-risk population, people must prepare, act early, and support one another, as outside help may not arrive in time. Clare Gibellini sees progress in Australia but also notes remaining gaps, such as evacuation centers opening too late and preparedness programs not always being accessible. Disaster planning may never be perfect, but when disabled people help shape it, everyone is safer—and true resilience is built for all.
Feature image: A man sprays down a wildfire in trees in the Australian Outback. Photo Credit: Jake Norris
