As Natural Disasters Increase Due to Climate Change, Senator Jeff Merkley Urges Planning
In the past year alone, the world has been battered by an astonishing number of natural disasters, from wildfires that scorched Australia’s protected forests and concealed San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge in a veil of poisonous smoke to hurricanes that came unseasonably early and left trails of disasters in their wake. These natural disasters have served to fuel a growing movement of outspoken and worried scientists and politicians who point to these events as proof that climate change must be taken seriously in domestic and international legislation.
Somewhat lost in this growing movement are disability advocates, who are becoming increasingly worried about the deadly outcomes of these disasters on the communities they most seek to protect. Persons with disabilities are often the first to suffer or die when flash flooding, fires, or hurricanes occur due to a lack of mobility or understanding of the situation. And yet, despite their heightened vulnerability in the face of natural disasters, they are often the last to be thought of in an evacuation.
So, what can be done to bring persons with disabilities to the forefront in natural disaster evacuations?
For Senator Jeff Merkley, a long-time member of the US Senate representing the state of Oregon in the Pacific Northwest, the answer lies in carefully planning out contingencies should deadly events occur.
Merkley is no stranger to either disability advocacy or climate change legislation. The Senator has long been a proponent of including the voices and stories of persons with disabilities in national discussions of legislations to increase representation and perspective. He also holds an advocacy for renewable energy dear to his heart, citing a need to make climate change legislation the top priority in the United States.
For Merkley, the destruction and loss of life due to these natural disasters show a lack of foresight and planning that might have otherwise saved countless lives. For persons with disabilities in particular, he insists, it is even more important to have carefully laid plans that take into consideration mobility issues or issues with understanding the severity of the situation. It cannot be reasonably expected that persons with disabilities can fend for themselves in extreme circumstances, instead they must rely on the good will of the community to consider them in evacuation plans. Local communities need to uphold that responsibility.
What could these plans look like?
Perhaps it includes a detailed list of all registered persons with disabilities in the community, including their addresses and range of mobility. Perhaps it means buying buses that are accessible as a mass evacuation possibility. Perhaps it even means creating a system where neighbors check on neighbors before they themselves evacuate, with an option to call an emergency helpline if a person is being left behind.
Whatever the plan may entail, they must be written now in order to save lives when the next natural disaster comes knocking.
Written by Ryan Trombly
Ryan Trombly was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy when she was eighteen months old. The disability causes right-side hemiparesis that affects the entire right side of her body, weakening her muscles and limiting her mobility in everyday activities. Despite this, Ryan has strived to live a normal, independent life without any barriers and hopes to use her voice to advocate for the community of people with disabilities.
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