International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2026: Resilience starts at home

News | October 13, 2026

For International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2026, the theme “Resilience Starts at Home” reminds us that resilience begins with whether individual people and families can access the information, infrastructure, services, and supports they need to adequately prepare for disasters.

For people with disabilities, resilience at home depends on much more than the strength or structural integrity of their house. It also depends on whether disaster information reaches them in ways they can understand and act upon, whether the roads and pathways around their home are accessible, and whether they can safely reach, enter, and use a cyclone shelter.

Project name: Establishing Disaster Resilient Communities in Satkhira 

Location: Satkhira, Bangladesh Project date: 2023-2026

Organisations involved: CBM Global, Access Bangladesh Foundation and Nabolok Parishad. This project was made possible thanks to the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).

Previously in Satkhira, Bangladesh, local disaster risk reduction plans did not address these barriers. People with disabilities also had limited opportunities to influence decision-making, meaning their experiences and requirements were not always reflected in preparedness measures, disaster management committees, infrastructure, or community services.

If people with disabilities are not meaningfully engaged, disaster systems can continue to overlook their knowledge, priorities and needs. Early warning information, evacuation plans, shelters and recovery support may remain inaccessible, creating avoidable barriers during disasters. People with disabilities may be left behind during evacuations or may not receive vital warning information in time to act.

Taking action through inclusive community mechanisms

Through the Establishing Disaster Resilient Communities in Satkhira project, CBM Global, Access Bangladesh Foundation, and Nabolok worked with people with disabilities, Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), Union Councils, Disaster Management Committees and male and female community members to strengthen disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction (DRR).

People with disabilities helped to lead community risk assessments, identifying not just the hazards affecting their communities, but also the barriers that often prevent people with disabilities from being safe in a disaster. They then advocated for these priorities to be incorporated into local Risk Reduction Action Plans and government budgets. Local government representatives and community stakeholders also strengthened their understanding of disability-inclusive DRR and climate resilience, which was led by people with disabilities and OPDs.

What has changed

These efforts contributed to significant changes in DRR, where:

• Five Union Councils developed disability-inclusive Risk Reduction Action Plans containing specific actions and budget allocations for accessibility and disability inclusion.
• 20 people with disabilities are now formal members of disaster management committees, and are prioritised as a key at-risk group in local loss and damage assessments.
• Local governments invested in improving access roads and pathways used to reach cyclone shelters, which were previously inaccessible. This has enabled people who use wheelchairs or other assistive devices to reach cyclone shelters without barriers.
• One cyclone shelter was upgraded to improve accessibility with ramps, tactile flooring, and an accessible washroom installed.
• Local transport options for evacuation were identified and supported to assist people with disabilities to evacuate safely and feel included.
• Union Council buildings renovated to improve physical accessibility through ramps and other modifications.
• An information centre was established where people with disabilities can access information about disasters, and social protection schemes.

The project has helped shift people with disabilities from being viewed only as recipients of assistance, to being recognised as meaningful leaders of community resilience. Their participation has influenced how local resources are allocated, and helped create safer, more accessible local DRR systems for those most at-risk. This has led to improved accessibility and the meaningful participation and inclusion of wider community groups most at-risk, including women, older people, children, and pregnant women.

Resilience starts at home, but it is sustained by the community

The experience in Satkhira shows that resilience can begin at home, but no household can build resilience alone.

Disaster resilience is sustained by inclusive community systems, accessible infrastructure, and meaningful participation in the decisions that shape disaster preparedness.

When roads, shelters, transport, information, public services, and decision-making processes are accessible, everyone benefits.

Why disability inclusion must be part of the new international disaster Treaty

The progress in Satkhira shows what can happen when people with disabilities and OPDs are meaningfully involved in local disaster governance. However, without system-wide requirements, achievements created through individual projects may not be sustained or replicated. Disability inclusion may continue to depend on local commitment rather than being consistently required across disaster preparedness, response and recovery.

The need for stronger commitments on disability inclusion is also reflected in recent research we conducted on Disability and Gender-Responsive Early Warning Systems in Bangladesh. The research found that, despite progress, people with disabilities and women continue to face barriers in accessing, understanding and acting on early warning information. The findings highlighted the importance of accessible communication, meaningful participation, disability-disaggregated data, and stronger coordination between stakeholders to ensure no one is left behind. Together with the experience from Satkhira, the research demonstrates that disability-inclusive DRR is achievable, but that stronger systems and accountability mechanisms are needed to ensure good practice becomes standard practice.

As negotiations continue on a new international Treaty on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters, or PPED, there is an important opportunity to ensure that the rights of people with disabilities are included in the final text.

Current disaster risk reduction commitments are mainly based on voluntary frameworks. The PPED could go further by creating legal duties for governments in how they prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. This could help hold governments accountable for ensuring that disaster systems are accessible and inclusive. This is urgently needed. UNDRR’s 2023 global survey report on persons with disabilities and disasters found that many early warning systems remain inaccessible, people with disabilities are often excluded from disaster-related decision-making, and data about people with disabilities is not always collected or used. Without clear requirements on accessibility, participation and data collection, governments cannot properly plan for people most at risk or determine whether disaster responses are reaching them.

Embedding disability inclusion in the PPED would help ensure that meaningful participation is not optional, but required.

PPED could establish clear obligations for governments to:

• Ensure that preparedness, early warning, evacuation, response, and recovery systems are accessible and inclusive
• Meaningfully engage people with disabilities and OPDs in disaster-related decisions, governance structures, and leadership roles
• Provide reasonable accommodations and adhere to accessibility requirements, to remove barriers for people with disabilities to support their participation, and
• Collect, use, and monitor gender-, age-, and disability-disaggregated data.

This would also align with the Sendai Framework, which recognises that persons with disabilities and their organisations are critical to assessing disaster risk and designing and implementing disaster plans.

Call to action: help make disability inclusion a legal requirement

This International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, we encourage Organisations of Persons with Disabilities, civil society organisations and allies to use the Disability Inclusion Advocacy Toolkit for the PPED and join advocacy efforts to strengthen disability inclusion in the proposed Treaty.

Developed by the Asia-Pacific Disability-inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction Network (DiDRRN) and the International Disability Alliance’s Thematic Group on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Action (TG-DRRCA), the toolkit includes:

1. Four key messages on disability inclusion in the PPED
2. Easy Read versions of the key messages
3. A plain-language summary of the PPED
4. Case studies supporting the key messages
5. Social media images promoting the key messages
6. A template letter to send to governments

The toolkit can support conversations with politicians, government officials, organisational leaders, donors and other stakeholders about what the PPED is, why disability inclusion matters and what changes are needed in the Treaty. P

Please use and share the toolkit, speak with decision-makers, and advocate for accessibility, meaningful participation and disability-inclusive data to be clearly included in the PPED.

The experience in Satkhira demonstrates that people with disabilities are not only at risk during disasters. People with disabilities are leaders, decision-makers and essential contributors to stronger community resilience. By acting now, we can help ensure that the PPED reflects this reality and that, wherever resilience starts, it includes everyone

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