Resilience is for life: reducing disaster risk in an ageing world
Chair
Chris Roles - Director of Age International
Speakers
Silvia Stefanoni - Direct of Policy and Strategy, HelpAge International
Tom Mitchell - Head of Climate and Environment, ODI
Chris Roles, Director of Age International, opened the discussion with the figures on our increasingly ageing world – two billion older people by 2050. This growing demographic is particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, which policy makers tend to overlook. Chris emphasised that new policies aiming to build resilience and reduce risk must be age-inclusive.
HelpAge International’s Director of Policy and Strategy, Silvia Stefanoni, introduced the themes and findings of Disaster resilience in an ageing world. Although older people can make important contributions and take an active role in responding to disasters, she argued, this is rarely recognised in disaster response or resilience systems.
Head of Climate and Environment at ODI, Tom Mitchell, spoke about disaster response and resilience more broadly. Recognising the lack of reliable data as a major problem when it comes to measuring progress, he advocated for better sharing of data, more nuanced indicators, capacity building in data collection – and, crucially, disaggregated data before a disaster occurs.
Description
What does this mean for our response to managing risk to disasters? Are we providing the necessary support to this growing sector of the population? How can we harness the potential of older people for strengthening resilience while ensuring that their vulnerabilities are being addressed?
The event will be chaired by Chris Roles, Director of Age International, will feature the launch of HelpAge International’s new report “Resilience in an Ageing World” and include keynote presentations from: Silvia Stefanoni, Direct of Policy and Strategy, HelpAge International and Tom Mitchell, Head of Climate and Environment, ODI
We hope you will join us for a stimulating discussion.
Join Thunderclap ahead of the event at 12:00 to raise awareness of International Day for Disaster Reduction 2014 through your social media!
https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/17311-resilience-is-for-life
Age International is a charitable subsidiary of Age UK and a member of the HelpAge global network
www.ageinternational.org.uk