Victims of the 1999 super cyclone. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 28: National and international experts today agreed on the need to prioritise relief and rehabilitation measures for persons with disabilities during disasters — keeping in mind the 70-million Indians who suffer from some form of disability.

The experts were speaking on the sidelines of a two-day international conference on “Disability and disasters” that started today. The chances of a differently-abled person surviving a disaster seemed slim in most disaster sites. Reports from Andaman showed that very few of the 700 people with polio survived the Tsunami, as they were not able to reach the hilltops. Similar reports were received from Indonesia and Thailand.

Lack of access to shelters for the disabled and the absence of specific plans of disaster response for the people — the experts stressed — was the root cause.

“Disability in disaster situations is an agenda that deserve a prominent place in the national humanitarian paradigm. The disaster bill 2005 did not mention the disability related concerns There is a need of paradigm shift in disability and disaster related policy making to endorse the needs and rights of the differently-able,” stressed Thomas Lagerwal, secretary general of Rehabilitation International.

In 1999 when the super cyclone struck Orissa, disability was not treated as a core issue in the disaster management policy, rued speakers.

Many disabled person was left behind, by their families and communities. Government or non-government personnel could do little to evacuate them. “Many spent weeks in isolation without food, shelter and treatment. The loss of lives in this group would not be known,” said Satya Bhushan, an expert while presenting his paper.

Adding to miseries, were the available cyclone shelters — ill-designed and inaccessible. Inadequate resources within the community to evacuate the people, lack of trained volunteers to recognise their immediate needs and the ability to tackle the trauma were among the other reasons for the high mortality rate.

Speakers also stressed that one of the problems remained the society’s “failure” to recognise differences.

Like the common masses the government, too, routinely fail to understand the different contexts of a disabled person’s life and needs. Thereby communication, evacuation, relief plans and reconstruction efforts give little thought to the differences while putting in place warning systems, emergency shelters, latrines, and emergency kitchens that are in accessible to disabled people.