Disaster preparedness for persons with disabilities: improving California's response

This report builds on lessons learned during two severe earthquakes in California, where it was observed that persons with physical or mental disabilities were disadvantaged by otherwise well planned disaster preparedness measures. Problems included accessibility at shelters, policies that could discriminate against disabled persons, and lack of knowledge and coordination among the disaster management and disability services. To address this, the state Department of Rehabilitation (DR), undertook a survey of disabled persons affected by the earthquakes in order to plan for improving California's ability to respond to persons with disabilities in a disaster situation.