October 13th is International Day for Disaster Reduction and this year the focus is on disability.
Disability is not well-accounted for in the current International Framework for Diaster Reduction. But that is starting to change. Building on the success of the Yogyakarta Declaration and the Chair’s Summary of the Global Platform, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) have dedicated this October 13th to disability.
ASB Indonesia is involved in celebrations with the Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) in Lombok and also in New York with UNISDR and in Bonn, Germany with Aktion-Deutschland-Hilft. More events are planned throughout the month.
Members of the Deaf Art Community (DAC) also performed in national events in Lombok. Young DAC friends demonstrated how to simply communicate earthquake safety procedures. This was supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Dr Alex Robinson, Indonesia Country Director and Inclusive DRR Adviser for ASB, and Ms Stephanie Rahardja, DAC, participated in a roundtable discussion at the United Nations in New York.
The discussion was chaired by Ms Margareta Wahlstrom, Special Representative to the Secretary General on DRR, and hosted by UNISDR, UNDESA and the governments of Norway and Indonesia.
Dr Robinson stressed the need for a whole-of community approach to DRR and Ms Rahardja urged goverments and other actors to realsie the potential of people with disability to contribute to DRR.
Ms Rahardja with Mr Arief Wicaksono from also performed at an evening reception hosted by the governments of Peru and New Zealand.
The participation of the Deaf Art Community in New York was supported by the United Nations and the Australian government through the AusAID Development Research Awards Scheme (ADRAS).
ASB’s Programme Manager, Ms Melina Margaretha, presented ASB’s experiences of delivering school-based inclusive-DRR programming at scale to government, non-government and disabled people’s organisations in Bonn. Participants noted that Germany still has much to learn from Asian experiences of delivering inclusive-DRR.
For more information about what ASB and DiDRRN partners are doing for IDDR please visit:
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