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Do disasters affect everyone equally? Yes, and no.
Yes, disasters tend to strike anyone and anything in their path. Earthquakes or floods do not distinguish between people.
But the impact on people, and what happens afterwards, does vary. Certain categories of people, those regularly disadvantaged in society, are likely to be exposed to greater suffering, during and following a disaster.
This briefing explains how some groups of people, who arguably need help the most, often get least help in an emergency. The briefing describes some major problems that governments and aid agencies are tackling.
What is discrimination in disasters?
Groups who are isolated and neglected by society do not tend to find things working suddenly better for them during an emergency. There are cases, though, in which groups find some improvement in their circumstances, such as refugees getting access to education.
Can aid agencies work in non-discriminatory ways?
To be honest, not very easily. They need a thorough understanding of the society they are working in. The tensions are clear when thinking about how a lot of aid is delivered. Distribution areas are often at high points, away from inhabited areas. The advantage for aid workers is that they can visually gauge the number and movement of people seeking aid. They can transfer relief items directly to recipients in a controlled, secure way.
However, such sitings of distribution points discriminate against older and disabled people and those who are housebound. Older people find it difficult to travel. And if they managed to get there, they may well lack the strength to carry heavy goods, including vital supplies such as food and water, back to their shelters.
Even when distribution goes to where people are, the elderly can still miss out.
- When relief was being distributed after the Indian Ocean tsunami, 75-year-old Perumal refused to join in the hungry crowd jostling for packets of aid thrown to them from cars. He stood alone in the remains of his thatched hut in Tamil Nadu watching Its no use. Ive been pushed out before and have fallen on the ground. I know Ill get nothing this time around, too.
Humanitarian agencies generally aim to deliver appropriate aid as fast as they can to wherever it will help relieve the greatest suffering. They may have to assume, or hope, that the aid will filter through to, say, elderly or disabled people, being routed by families and communities who know the situation best. It is a nice thought. But reality is not always like that.
Are women sometimes discriminated against in disasters?
Yes. Often, and severely. Discrimination against women in disaster settings is "a serious and life-threatening human rights issue requiring special attention in all phases of humanitarian intervention", say the compilers of the 2007 World Disasters Report.
They point out that when communities are scrambling to survive, or seeking refuge in temporary, and often unplanned, shelters, women and girls are vulnerable and at risk of violence. For instance:
- A researcher into the tsunami found many instances of women being raped by rescuers and strangers who took advantage of the lawlessness and chaos immediately following the disaster.
- A survey into the temporary trailer camps set up in Louisiana and Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina found high levels of gender-based violence. Forty-nine per cent of respondents said they did not feel safe walking round their trailer park at night.
Women's relative powerlessness can continue after a disaster. There have been reports that many young girls and women in Sri Lanka, Aceh and India were forced to marry "tsunami widowers" because their families were no longer able to provide for them.
Even at the point of receiving humanitarian aid, women's position in society can see their needs ignored. In the Pashtun-dominated areas of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, women were strictly forbidden by cultural tradition to talk to men outside their families. As a result, they could not articulate their needs directly to the mostly male aid workers. Nor could they appear in public at distribution points to access the relief aid on offer.
What solutions have been tried?
Some aid agencies and coordinating bodies are trying to devise policies which challenge discriminatory practices. Some have devised planning tools which can identify past discrimination and actively include previously marginalised groups.
In disaster-prone Bangladesh, men used to disseminate information about how to prepare for cyclones and flooding. It was rarely shared with women. The Bangladesh Red Crescent is seeking to redress this by training women volunteers to spread messages to the hard-to-reach female sections of the community information about the location of shelters, what to take to them, what food to stock up on, to bury valuables. It is a difficult process which requires a change in cultural attitudes about who has access to information some women are stigmatised for their volunteering.
Despite these and similar efforts, there is a still a long way to go. There are no easy quick answers.
Areas for discussion with students
> "Women and children first," used to be the cry in old films when a ship was sinking and spaces in lifeboats were limited. Only when the lifeboats with the most vulnerable were safely away, would the order be issued "every man for himself".
Do students think this is an admirable and heroic ethos or a load of romanticised baloney? What is most likely to happen today? Do students think the strongest and most powerful tend to help those weaker than themselves? Or would they ensure their own survival first? Talk about what students know from recent emergencies such as the 7/7 London blasts, floods, or an emergency in their area. Discuss how people help each other.
> Relate the experiences of discrimination to students' own experiences. Are there times when they have been aware that marginalised groups are at an even greater disadvantage when normal circumstances change suddenly? If essential transport doesn't turn up, say, especially late at night, are disabled people affected more than the able-bodied? Or girls more than women? Do students have experience of a crisis, when one group want to do all the talking and decision-making, even though the impact is greater on another group, who actually know more about it?
> Invite students to examine a copy of an organisation's emergency procedures. This could be one from their own school, or another institution. The local council's website may be a source of a typical example. Ask students to note how often vulnerable groups are singled out for a mention. Are there points where they think it should take into account the specific needs of elderly or disabled people, women or minority groups?
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