Workshop on needs of persons with disabilities throughout disaster management cycle
The Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU will focus on rising awareness and preparedness for disasters for persons with disability.
The official opening and Panel Discussion will webstreamed through PreventionWeb and the official page of Latvian Presidency:
Various European Union strategic documents and regulations aim to ensure equal opportunities for persons with disabilities in different areas, but taking in consideration increasing numbers of disasters within the European Union and outside, it is vital to understand and integrate the needs of persons with disability in disaster management planning. For this reason Latvian Presidency will dedicate a workshop that will aim to find the gaps in relations between needs of persons with disability and disaster management cycle.
Workshop will start with three panel discussions: needs of persons with disability throughout disaster management cycle, best practices in civil protection for persons with disability and use of new technologies and innovative solutions for persons with disability during emergencies. Each panel discussion will be facilitated by experienced experts and they will take a look into the topic from perspective of disaster management cycle, particularly prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. When the scene for fruitful work will be set all participants will be split in three groups (prevention, preparedness, response & recovery) to discuss issue of persons with disability in different areas of disaster management cycle. Participants are invited to share knowledge, experience and provide proposals for improvement in particular area.
In order to demonstrate some practical examples of new technologies and innovative solution Presidency will organize an exhibition in between workshop sessions. Presidency will ensure presence of some private/public entities during the exhibition, but every participant can bring and demonstrate technological solutions of its own country.