2014 Survey on the perceptions of older people in disaster risk reduction
International Day for Disaster Reduction 2014
2014 will be the final year in the four-year “Step-Up” Campaign on IDDR, which raises awareness and advocates for inclusive disaster risk reduction, each year focusing on the role of important actors such as – Children and Young People (2011), Women and Girls (2012), People living with Disability (2013) and Older Persons (2014). The vital need to acknowledge them as a resource for resilience and ensure their equal participation in resilience building needs to be recognized.
The world is changing rapidly. Globalization offers endless economic opportunities, but also has costs. Unsustainable land use and biodiversity loss are happening at an unprecedented speed. Global warming has seen a rise in temperature of about 0.8°C in the past century (with about two-thirds of this increase occurring since 1980), leading to greater environmental and climatic risks. A report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2014 warned that climate change has become a threat to life and livelihoods while also being a factor in the rise of mega-disasters. These changes are occurring alongside rapid population growth and population ageing. The world population has quadrupled to 7 billion people in just over 100 years. Today, people aged over 60 constitute 11 per cent of the global population. By 2050, this proportion will have doubled, to 22 per cent – that is, 2 billion older persons. Populations are ageing most rapidly in developing countries, which are currently home to 60 per cent of the world’s older persons, projected to rise to 80 per cent by 2050. This collision of increasing global disaster risk and increasing numbers of potentially exposed older persons must be addressed at every level of disaster management planning to ensure that the impact of disaster does not continue to grow along with these trends.
As part of the activities leading to the International Day for Disaster Reduction celebrations in October, UNISDR and HelpAge are organizing a survey of both older persons and governments on issues related to ageing and DRR. We are inviting government disaster management personnel and other agencies working in emergencies and disaster risk reduction to complete this survey on their perception of older people in disaster risk reduction. This information will be very important to understand older people are perceived and their needs and contributions understood in disasters, and it will inform the messaging for the International Day for Disaster Risk in 13 October 2014.
Please return this survey to UNISDR:
Name: ______
Age: ______
Sex: ______
Organization/Ministry ______
Country: ______
1. Please tick if you have experienced any of the following hazards in your lifetime:
Earthquake [ ]
Flood [ ]
Tsunami [ ]
Hurricane [ ]
Landslide [ ]
Severe storm [ ]
Heatwave [ ]
Other ______
2. If you ticked any of the above, did those experiences take place when you were 65 years old and above?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
I don’t remember [ ]
3. Do you think older people are more affected by hazard events such as those listed in question 1 compared to younger people?
a) Yes [ ]
b) No [ ]
c) Not sure [ ]
4. I think older persons are vulnerable due to the following (please tick where appropriate):
Strongly agree / Agree / Somewhat agree / Somewhatdisagree / Disagree / Strongly disagree / Don’t know
Low income
Poor mobility
Poor eyesight
Poor hearing
Lack of access to information
Lack of access to technology
Lack of safe housing
I don’t have as much support from the community as I used to
Add here variables that represent vulnerability for older persons
4.a What other vulnerabilities do you think older persons have?
______
5. In times of disaster, I believe older persons are an asset to society because they (please tick where appropriate):
Strongly agree / Agree / Somewhat agree / Somewhatdisagree / Disagree / Strongly disagree / Don’t know
Have more experience in dealing with crises compared to other age groups
Have more leadership skills compared to other age groups and lead people to safety etc.
Add other variables that represent strengths for older persons)
5.a.What other type of knowledge, experience and skills do you think older persons have that could be valuable to disaster risk reduction?
______
6. Please tick where appropriate:
I don’t believe older persons should be given special considerations compared to other members of the population
Yes [ ] No [ ] Not sure [ ]
IF YOU ANSWERED NO PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION. IF YES OR NOT SURE, PLEASE SKIP QUESTION 7 AND MOVE TO QUESTION 8:
7. I would like my community to do more to:
· Ensure older persons are protected
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
Not sure [ ]
· Ask older people what their vulnerabilities and needs are and address this in our planning
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
Not sure [ ]
· Ask older people about their experiences in disasters
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
Not sure [ ]
· Include older people in disaster risk reduction training and action
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
Not sure [ ]
· Other (please specify)
8. What are your top five priorities to improve the inclusion of older people in DRR programmes and services?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
None [ ]
9. If you are willing to commit to making some effort to improve the inclusion of older people in disaster risk reduction would you be able to sign up to Charter 14 and make a voluntary commitment towards the world conference in Sendai and so be recognized for those efforts?
Please send your responses to: by 31 August 2014.