Topic 11: Socially vulnerable groups and building resilience
Overview
Age, race, gender, health, and ethnicity may all contribute to a community’s placement on the vulnerability – resilient scale. Young children and the elderly are often cited as being in need, as are people with disabilities and those whose first language is not native to the country they reside in. When constructing a disaster plan Emergency Managers are especially conscious of people who may not be as able as other community members to meet their own needs in times of crisis. For example, aged care facilities will require help to evacuate. People with complex medical problems may need help with accessing medications and various treatments, such as kidney dialysis. In the recovery phase after a disaster the needs of these people will become a priority for relief workers. In this Topic you are introduced to the concept of vulnerable people groups and to principles which will build community resilience.
Learning outcomes
- be able to describe and explain the effect of social structure on disaster recovery
- be able to describe strategies for building community resilience