Equity in Disaster Preparedness
The RDPO is dedicated to improving the disaster resilience of community members
who are underserved, marginalized, and disproportionately impacted by disasters.
The RDPO aims to achieve more equitable planning and programming. Our equity work began in 2021 with an Equity Resolution and charter of an Equity Subcommittee. It continued in 2023 with the creation of an Equity Framework. And equity is embedded in our new 5-year strategic plan to ensure this core value is a foundational part of future work.
EQUITY-CENTERED WORK
CURRENT PROJECTS
Creating accessible, community-led, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed disaster communications via the Disaster Messaging Work Group, including:
Accessibility improvements to the region’s emergency preparedness website, PublicAlerts.org.
Creation of regional disaster messaging guidelines, with a focus on language and disability access.
Creation of a language mapping tool that provides more robust, accurate information about the languages spoken in our communities.
Participation in the State of Oregon’s Disability in Emergency Management Advisory Committee and Sub-Committee for Recommendations in Alerting Practices.
PAST PROJECTS
Conducted a usability study of the PublicAlerts.org website to ensure it meets the needs of our most disaster-vulnerable community members.
Hosted an event with local media to discuss accessibility concerns with the Emergency Alert System, which sends public alerts via television and radio.
Created thousands of urgent safety messages in 25-32 languages, including American Sign Language, via the Critical Safety Messages Project.
Learned about the messaging and engagement needs of disaster-vulnerable communities via the Community Engagement Lessons Learned project.
Advocated for language and disability access improvements in state and federal alert and warning systems via the national Language & Accessibility in Alert & Warning Workgroup.
Supported community-led preparedness initiatives via the Community Resilience Project.
Developed mapping tools to better understand disaster vulnerabilities via the Social Vulnerability Tools Project.
Completed equity-driven planning for disaster response and recovery via projects such as: Emergency Transportation Routes Update, Regional Recovery Framework, Economic Analysis of a Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake, and Earthquake Economic Impact Analysis, and Mass Sheltering Training Tools.
Created of a report on regional Disabilities, Access, and Functional Needs Inclusive Planning, and an accompanying Summary, Best Practices, and References document.