To ensure the safety of everyone in the community in case of a disaster, the four elements of people-centred early warning systems should be inclusive of persons with disabilities, older persons and other at-risk groups.
Key considerations:
- Risk knowledge: Systematically involve persons from different at-risk groups in the collection of data and implementation of risk assessments. Disaggregate data at least by sex, age and disability. Consider using the Washington Group enhanced short set of questions to collect data on persons with functional limitations.
- Monitoring and warning service: Consider information on the location of at-risk population while developing hazard monitoring and early warning services.
- Communication and warning dissemination: Communicate risk information and early warning by using a combination of different audio and visual mechanisms to reach persons with diverse disabilities.
- Community response capability: Include representatives of different at-risk groups in activities aimed at building community response capabilities for different hazards including in disaster management committees and developing and practicing community contingency plans.