Supporting
Special Needs and Vulnerable Populations in Disasters
If disaster
strikes, is your community prepared to assist people with disabilities,
people who speak little or no English, and people who are frail,
elderly, very young, or homeless?
If the answer
is "no" or "dont know," maybe you could
learn from a coalition in California, known as Community
Collaborative Groups.
Their common
bond is a commitment to meeting the emergency preparedness needs
of vulnerable, high risk or special needs populations in a state
that has had repeated earthquakes, fires, floods, hazardous material
spills and other emergencies.
Frequent disasters
in California have provided the opportunity to develop, refine,
test and validate the important role of the Community Collaborative
Groups in serving vulnerable populations.
These include groups that cannot comfortably or safely access and
use the standard resources offered in traditional disaster preparedness,
relief and recovery.
The
Federal Emergency Management Agency and the California
Office of Emergency Services developed a PrepareNow website
to help these special needs and high risk groups and the community
agencies that serve them.
The site has
disaster preparedness information in nine languages English,
Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog (Filipino), Punjabi
(Indian), Portuguese and Chinese.
For more information,
visit the PrepareNow site.
September 2000
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