Thread by @SamLMontano

There are many ways the formal US emergency management system fails women but not preparing for the increase in domestic violence post-disaster is one of the most egregious.

(True internationally too but I'll just talk US here).

#EmergencyManagement101 #EMGTwitter

Here’s what the research says:

Post-disaster the number of women who seek out domestic violence shelters & the number of reported cases of domestic violence increase. There is a resurgence/ increase in abuse & new cases of abuse reported.

Survivors who left abusive relationships pre-disaster may re-enter these relationships post-disaster. When someone loses their home & does not have the ability to access resources they may have no option but to return to their abusers in an effort to met needs like housing.

Also, abusers may exploit the financial hardship a family faces as a result of the disaster to re-enter abusive relationships.

At the same time as this increase in violence & people seeking help, the resources that exist in the community day-to-day are often not sufficient. The organizations may have been impacted by the disaster themselves, sometimes even destroyed to the point of closure.

Shelters often do not have emergency plans & often lack resources such as food and personnel during the disaster. They also tend to be isolated during/ after disaster because they are not well integrated with other organizations in the community, especially disaster organizations

So, what the research tells us is that women need the following:

The question then becomes what can those of us in emergency management do to address these needs? Well, there's actually a lot we can do. We need to make sure that our systems for receiving aid allow women to be able to access resources independent of their abusers.

We need to tell the people who run women’s shelters in our communities that they should expect an increase violence post-disaster. We also need to make sure that these shelters are prepared to get through the disaster themselves - that means making sure employees have personal

preparedness plans so they can get to work, that their physical buildings are strong, that they have food/ water and other sustaining resources, and that they have means to recover when they do experience damage (etc).

To be clear: I mean that if you are an emergency manager you need to reach out to these organizations yourself. Assess their preparedness efforts, give them advice/ resources, include them in your plans. Right now - go, I’ll wait.

This is all explained in greater detail, with more context, and CITATIONS in an article @amsavitt and I published which can be found here: wmpllc.org/ojs-2.4.2/inde…

Here’s a training on domestic violence and disaster from the Family Violence Prevention and Services Program: acf.hhs.gov/fysb/resource/…

If you’re looking for more information in a non-academic form here's an article from @lorenaoneil in The Atlantic: theatlantic.com/health/archive…

If you want to learn more about gender and disaster more broadly (which you absolutely should then I recommend the following):

Here’s an excellent powerpoint put together by Elaine Enarson that explains the role of gender in practice: disastermh.nebraska.edu/conferences/fi…

The Gender and Disaster Network website has a phenomenal collection of resources.
gdnonline.org

For the latest research, read the gender & disaster in the new edition of the Handbook of Disaster Research here: link.springer.com/chapter/10.100…

The two go-to books:
Women and Disasters From Theory to Practice: amazon.com/Women-Disaster…

And, The Gendered Terrain of Disaster (which is apparently weirdly expensive now): amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no…+

Finally, this is not something that can be put off. This is a very real problem and it's happening right now. Here's an article from @weulich about the horrific surge of domestic violence in post-Maria Puerto Rico.
csmonitor.com/layout/set/amp…