How to Prepare for an Emergency or Disaster for People with Disabilities and How to Get Help in the Aftermath
November 30, 2012 [Updated April 2, 2020] TweetConsider the options provided in this guide and check back with us. As we learn more about organizations that are assisting in relief efforts, we will list the information here on this guide. Bookmark our guide and remember to refresh the page on your browser each time you visit.
Are you prepared for an emergency or a disaster? Do you know what to include in an individual or family emergency survival kit or evacuation kit?
Do you know how to contact those who may assist you in an emergency or disaster?
Have you considered trying to assist people with disabilities in communities in time of disaster, but do not know how to go about it? See our guide at How to Donate or Provide Assistance for People with Disabilities
Select the Emergency Disaster topic of your choice from the links below:
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How to Prepare for a Disaster
Safety During and in the Aftermath of a Disaster
How to Get Help in the Aftermath of a Disaster
How to Deal Emotionally with a Crisis or Get Counseling
How to Contact Family or Friends During a Disaster
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How to Donate or Offer Help for People with Disabilities during Disasters in the U.S.
What You Should Know Before You Give to National Disaster Relief
How to donate or offer help for people with disabilities during International Disasters
How to Prepare for a Disaster for People with Disabilities, their Families and Caregivers
- Food, water, health supplies, and clothing may be in short supply for several days during an emergency.
- Outages may occur for electricity, gas, water, sewage treatment, and telephones for several days.
- Assess your situation, in whom can you depend on help and what you will need for your particular situation. Make a plan, learn what you will need and what to do for various emergencies.
- If you are dependent on medical supplies or equipment dependent on utilities such as electricity to function, you need a backup plan.
- If your equipment requires electricity, voluntarily register with your local utility company to make sure they know you will need assistance in an outage.
- American Red Cross Preparing for Disaster for People with Disabilities and Other Special Needs The American Red Cross has a family preparedness brochure for people with disabilities. This assists you in assessing your needs, learning what you need to do to prepare, how to get informed of emergencies in your area, make a plan, assemble an emergency kit, and how to maintain your emergency plan and kit. This guide includes an action list of things to do before and during various emergencies. For more general instructions and checklists to prepare for each kind of emergency such as flood, fire, flu, etc. visit Types of Emergency
- Independence Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado has a personal preparedness handbook to help people with disabilities prepare for emergencies. This may be of interest in planning for the future.
- Preparedness information for people with disabiities from the American Public Health Association's Get Ready Campaign which helps Americans prepare themselves, their families and their communities for all disasters and hazards, including pandemic flu, infectious disease, natural disasters and other emergencies. This is a series of fact sheets for people living with disability to get prepared for emergencies, you can either read download or listen to them. The fact sheets cover disability categories, such as for people with hearing disabilities, visual disabilities, cognitive disabilities or mobility disabilities.
- American Association for People with Disabilities Emergency Preparedness partners with Ready.gov to offer the following general guides on emergency preparedness, Get a kit, Make a Plan and Be Informed.
- myDisasters: DisAbility Preparedness includes disability organization and federal agencies information on emergency preparedness. They also list the principles to guide disaster relief for the 54 million Americans who are disabled and who need to plan ahead in case of an emergency, contact their community about emergency plans, and how to evacuate their home or workplace if needed
- For more resources on emergency-preparedness, see our NHU Resources page on Safety: Accessible Egress/Evacuation/Disaster Preparedness
During an emergency or a disaster you may have to try to survive with a limited amount of resources.
Guides on Emergency Preparedness for People with Disabilities
The following resources will assist you in having a plan in case of an emergency, creating a disaster supply kit or evacuation kit, keeping informed of communication about outages, emergency contacts and numbers, and who and how to go for help, if needed. For more guides, visit NHU's page on Safety: Guides: Emergency Preparedness
Safety During and in the Aftermath of a Disaster
Flood
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In the case of flooding, be careful that water does not have electric current running.
Assume any wire is live and stay away. To report local outage and downed wires, call 1-800-841-4141.
As flood waters recede, bacteria and mold will remain. Mold can cause serious health problems whether you have asthma, allergies, compromised by immune system disorders or are a healthy person.
For accurate information about the health effects of mold, go to https://www.truthaboutmold.info/mold-remediation .
Check out the Global Indoor Health Network. Be sure to read the Global Indoor Health Network's position statement that discusses the diagnosis and treatment of illness caused by mold.
Once flood waters have dropped, act fast to clean your house of contaminants to avoid mold, if not throw away items that came in contact with flood waters. Moldings and baseboards should be disposed of. Cutting opening on wall bases will help things air out.
In moderate cases, detergent and hot water will clean hard surfaces.
Don't breathe in the mold while you are working to get rid of it. You can get an N95 respirator mask from the hardware store. Work boots and gloves that are puncture-proof offer protection. Clean up with clean water and detergent. Adapted from Dealing With Hazards of Hurricane Sandy's Aftermath By Jody Smith HERWriter October 30, 2011.
Emergency Shelters
- Federal guidelines for emergency shelters Emergency shelters must make exceptions to “no pets” or “no animals” policies to allow people with disabilities to be accompanied by their service animals. Service animals are not pets and are therefore not subject to restrictions applied to pets or other animals.
How to Get Help in the Aftermath of a Disaster
FEMA Information
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FEMA is the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is responsible for providing and coordinating emergency services in Presidentially declared disaster areas. FEMA works as a partner with other parts of the Federal government and with state and local governments and voluntary organizations.
- FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program provides money and direct services to those affected by a major disaster. Requirements must be met to qualify for help from this program.
- The U.S. Small Business Administration provides low-interest loans for damage to property owned by homeowners, renters, businesses and private non-profit organizations that are not fully covered by insurance. Please visit Applying for Disaster Assistance � What Information Do I Need to Apply? to find out information regarding FEMA’s application guides.
The guides are provided in English, Spanish, Korean, and Vietnamese. They also provide pdf and text format. For more information regarding FEMA, please visit www.fema.gov
. If you prefer to call FEMA, call 1-800-621-FEMA (3362)
Disaster assistance applicants who have a hearing or speech disability and use TTYs should call 1-800-462-7585 directly. If you do not use a TTY and are calling through any relay service or by voice, you can also access the following voice telephone number: 1-800-621-3362. These toll-free telephone numbers (provided by FEMA) will operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (local time) seven days a week until further notice
Information on applying for disaster relief from FEMA at Disaster Assistance.gov.
There are two primary Federal programs that offer disaster assistance:
Local Resources
Hawaii
- The Hawaii State Emergency Management Agency also has a disaster resource for people with disabilities.
New York
Contact your local city or county Office for People with Disabilities. This office offers information and resources for survivors of disasters that may need assistance. If you need assistance contact this office for who to contact depending on your needs such as accessible transportation or retrieval from your home. If you need life-saving equipment that requires electricity and you power is out, call 911. If you know of a person that needs assistance contact Senior Care who will retrieve home bound Seniors and relocate them.
For those who require shelters, they usually remain open until residents can safely return to their homes. To find a shelter please visit your local government website. If you are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and require an American Sign Language interpreter while in an evacuation center or shelter, or upon reporting to an evacuation center or shelter, you can request one and one will be provided to you.
For all the latest information on Bus and Access-A-Ride type services, please visit your local Transit Authority.
Individual Food Assistance
If you are a person with a disability and are in need of an accommodation in the form of food delivery or dry ice in areas without power, you can contact your local Office for People with Disabilities to request this accommodation. Please note you will have to provide proof of your disability to receive this accommodation.
MORE RESOURCES
Federal guidelines for emergency shelters (shelters must make exceptions to “no pets” or “no animals” policies to allow people with disabilities to be accompanied by their service animals. Service animals are not pets and are therefore not subject to restrictions applied to pets or other animals. )
To search for open shelters: text SHELTER and your Zip Code to 43362 (4FEMA) (Standard rates apply) or call the Red Cross at 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767)
How to Deal Emotionally with a Disaster or Get Counseling
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Here are some good pointers for Coping with the emotional aftermath from consumer reports - written by a clinical psychologist --Andrew Schwartz, Ph.D.
This article suggests for you to
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Acknowledge your feelings.
Take some time to process the events.
Take a moment to observe the positive.
Find productive ways to deal with feelings of guilt or sorrow.
Allow yourself to enjoy the routine activities of day to day life.
Do not hesitate to ask for help.
How to Contact Family or Friends During a Disaster
- Register with the American Red Cross for search, safe, and well directory to find loved ones.
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