Disasters and Disabled People: Have Any Lessons Been Learned?

On November 14, 2016, New Zealanders woke to terrifying earth rumbles and dove for cover under beds, tables, and in doorways, as two earthquakes merged into a massive magnitude 7.8 quake at 12:02 a.m. Severe shaking lasted about 120 seconds near Christchurch, in Kaikoura, a tourist destination at the top of the South Island, and 30 seconds in Wellington, the nation's capital, at the bottom of the North Island. On November 17, 2016, the Ministries of Social Development and Civil Defence, as they did in 2011, launched a free telephone helpline to provide a one-stop source of information on services and assistance that was available to people affected by the earthquakes. Some of our personal contacts indicated that their service dogs woke startled, some slept through the event, and some coped well with the quakes, but that the dogs were distressed by the civil defence sirens (tsunami warnings). Individualised disaster planning for students with impaired vision," it is noted that children with disabilities can be profoundly affected by disasters (Good, 2016). Since the big quakes in 2010 and 2011, schools have been teaching children about the right actions to take before, during, and after an earthquake. Parents also need to...