“Disaster plans often fail because they assume:

• everyone can move fast,
• everyone can hear warnings,
• everyone can see signs,
• everyone processes information the same way.

But real households don’t work like that — especially households with older people, children, and persons with disabilities.

According to the UNDRR Global Survey 2023:

• 84% of persons with disabilities do NOT have a personal preparedness plan
• Only 11% know their community’s DRR plan
• 23% have difficulty evacuating even WITH early warning
• Most have never participated meaningfully in drills or planning meetings

These numbers tell us one thing:

These numbers tell us something simple: plans must be accessible, realistic, and built around actual capacities, not assumptions.”