We’re launching a fantastic new resource today: Disaster Preparedness in Migrant Communities: A Manual for First Responders. In a nutshell, it’s a unique resource to help communities integrate migrants into their planning and response to disasters.
The manual, which you can learn more about here, is based on our decades of work with immigrants and refugees. It will educate, empower, and equip first responders to see migrants as part of their disaster response, understand the specific vulnerabilities faced by migrant communities during a disaster, work alongside the ethnic community to mitigate disaster risk, and appropriately deal with crisis when it occurs.
If you’d like to obtain a hard copy of the manual, please email lirs@lirs.org. To download a copy, please click here.
Here’s some of what’s inside:
- Observations about the unique characteristics of newcomers in American communities, and how those relate to their ability to cope with disaster
- Questions for reflection on how communities can best build ties with newcomer community leaders and plan for their inclusion in disaster planning
- Recommendations for actions that position planners and first responder teams to lead the entire community – newcomers included – to a safe outcome
- Tools to round out planning for all stages of coping with disasters, gleaned from expert sources
We’re extremely grateful to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS) for supporting the creation of this important manual. I’d also like to use this space to send a huge thanks to our friends in our community partners and allies, who gave us valuable feedback through an intensive review process.
I hope you’ll let us know your thoughts on the manual and the uses your community is finding for it. In the meantime, have a wonderful holiday season!