Når man er blind eller døv, er der svært at vide noget om advarsler mod f.eks. oversvømmelser eller komme væk i tide, hvis man er gangbesværet eller slet ikke kan gå – det skal der gøres noget ved i landet med den lange kystlinje og de store deltaer.
HANOI, 14 August 2013 (IRIN): With its long coastline and large deltas, Vietnam is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the growing hazards (farer) of climate change, including rising sea levels, typhoons and cyclones.
To help residents in disaster-prone (udsatte) areas face increasingly frequent and more intense climate hazards, NGOs started implementing community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) projects and programmes in Vietnam from early 2000.
The government is working on a national CBDRM action plan to cover 6.000 of the South East asian country’s more than 9.000 communes.
However, up until now, the needs of some of the most vulnerable people – people with disabilities (fysisk handicappede) – have not been included, say activists.
A group of NGOs is hoping to change that by developing disability-inclusive tools and guidelines for the National CBDRM plan under development and ensuring their implementation at the village level.
“There are many steps in the CBDRM: assessing the vulnerability of the community, planning, mitigation, communication. We try to engage people with disabilities in all these themes,” said Tran Thai Binh.
He is project manager for the Joint Advocacy Network Initiative (JANI), a group of 18 local and international NGOs working with the government to develop community-based responses to climate change hazards in Vietnam.
“Somehow they are scared”
The first step in conducting a vulnerability assessment has been problematic given the difficulty of gaining the trust and participation of people with disabilities.
“Some people with disabilities are not open and are not willing to work with us,” Binh said, adding:
“Somehow they are scared, so it is a challenge for the people to recognize their need and how to involve them into the activity and their work.”
To help gain access, JANI is working with the Hanoi Association for the Deaf, a member of the Hanoi Association of People with Disabilities.
People with hearing impairments (nedsat hørelse) – who may not hear early warnings and instructions for temporary evacuations during disasters – are among the most vulnerable and most lack any evacuation plan, said vice-chairman of Hanoi Association for the Deaf Le Van Anh.
This problem is worsened by the fact that many people with hearing impairments in poor, rural communities have no opportunity to learn sign language.
“They have to point or draw pictures. They rely on their parents and family to communicate,” Anh added.
Reliance on third parties to communicate has been a big obstacle to conducting vulnerability assessments, Anh said, because family members may not understand what kind of information surveyors want.
Action in Quang Nam Province
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http://www.irinnews.org/report/98561/vietnam-looks-to-include-disabled-people-in-climate-change-action-plan
