Tonga tsunami: More preparation needed for disabled people in a natural disaster

Friday, 21 January 2022

Niwa's climate stations recorded a brief spike in air pressure as the atmospheric shock wave from Tonga's volcanic eruption pulsed across New Zealand.

Fatima Akehurst spoke to her sister in Tonga for a couple of minutes. Then the line cut out.

“It’s so tough, they’re going through a tough time right now,” she says.

Following the eruption of underwater volcano Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai on Saturday, a tsunami has left one island completely destroyed, damaged deep sea communication cables, and killed three people.

Akehurst, 67, was born on the Tongan island of Vava’u and knows the situation isn’t good for disabled people over there right now.

* NZ Government makes $500,000 available for assistance in Tonga

Fatima Akehurst is the Pacific services co-ordinator and primary services provider for Blind Low Vision NZ.

* Tonga tsunami: Families fear for loved ones who fled waves from volcanic eruption

She was born with an eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa which causes progressive blindness.

Although she says she grew up independent, she had to “fight through” the stigma that came along with having a disability, you were “supposed to be locked up at home because of the shame”, she says.

Akehurst moved to New Zealand when she was 23 and realised there was a large gap in resources for disabled people.

“At the time when I was growing up, there was nothing for blind people in Tonga,” she says.

“When I came to New Zealand, I learnt a lot about adaptive living skills, orientation and mobility, adaptive communication and technology, but there was nothing in Tonga”.

She now works as the Pacific services co-ordinator and primary services provider for Blind Low Vision NZ.

In 2014, Akehurst travelled to Tonga to set up an association for blind people. The centre runs support groups and life skills training for the members.

She’s been trying but hasn’t received any communication from them and is unsure if the members were at the centre or at home when the tsunami hit.

“My heart goes out to our blind people and low vision people in Tonga … I hope people are looking after them”.

‘It’s heartbreaking to see’

Lolomanaia Filiai, whose family is from Eua Island in Tonga, was in a car accident in 1998. He now uses a power wheelchair for mobility and lives in Auckland with his family.

“I can see the problem facing our country and lack of resources for disabled people.”

Churches, which are often used as places of refuge in an emergency, are usually not accessible and only new government houses were being designed with accessibility for people in wheelchairs.

Lolomanaia Filiai, centre, is the co-ordinator for Disability Information Advisory Services at Vaka Tautua. He is pictured with his wife, Lavinia, sons Lolomanaia Jr and Lutelo Langi, and daughter Anolaiso.

Asked if he would be able to get a power wheelchair in Tonga: “No way, no way,” he replied.

If people with mobility impairments are able to get a wheelchair, it is only a manual wheelchair and it's usually provided from the Mormon church, it would be a second-hand wheelchair donated from an organisation, he says.

But work is under way to improve things for Tonga’s disabled people.

He says only last year the Tongan Government was able to fund a subsidy for carers for disabled people, most people are reliant on family for care.

“It’s heartbreaking for us here in New Zealand to see how disabled people in Tonga can escape this tsunami.”

The last time Filiai went to Tonga was in 2015, and he visited one of the disability support centres. The centre is based near the sea, a very high risk area for disabled people, he says.

At the time, the centre had only one mobility van with a hoist that could take three people in wheelchairs. He doesn’t know if the van is still operating and worried about how the centre coped getting more people to safety after the tsunami.

He hasn’t had any communication from the centre or his own mother yet.

“We’re still trying to find a way to talk to her … hopefully they are safe,” he says.

Despite his heartbreak over the tsunami, he hopes that this will be an opportunity for development to provide more resources and tools for disabled people in the future and help better prepare for the next natural disaster.

Disabled people more likely to be injured in a natural disaster in the Pacific

Thick ash on an airport runway delayed aid deliveries to Tonga.

Research from CBM, Pacific Disability Forum and New Zealand Foreign Affairs and Trade published in a 2017 document called Disability Inclusion Policy Brief: Gap analysis on disability-inclusive humanitarian action in the Pacific, looked at the impact natural disasters have on disabled people in the Pacific.

The results show disabled people are more negatively affected compared to non-disabled people in an emergency.

When Tropical Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu in 2015, disabled people experienced worse access to safe evacuation information and facilities.

The research found 5.8 per cent of people with disabilities sustained injuries, versus 2.4 per cent non-disabled people indicating that people living with disabilities were 2.45 times more likely to have been injured during the cyclone.

When residents on the Vanuatu island of Ambae needed to evacuate due to volcanic activity in 2017, some people with disabilities were told to leave their wheelchairs and assistive devices behind.

This left disabled people unable to access hygiene facilities until their assistive devices were replaced.

‘Disabled people are even more vulnerable in a disaster’

People with disabilities are often the last on someone’s list in the queue for support and are even more vulnerable in a disaster, says CBM’s chief executive Dr Murray Sheard.

He says poverty and disability is a “vicious cycle”.

“If you are poor, you are more likely to get a disability. And if you have a disability, you are less likely to find work.”

Around 15 per cent globally are disabled, but in developing countries that was even higher, he says.

CBM’s main partner is the Pacific Disability Forum based in Fiji, but like others, that organisation could not easily get information from Tonga, due to o ngoing issues with communication.

Based on what’s happened after previous natural disasters, Sheard says its partners will already be doing house to house assessments of known disabled people and getting them water, which is “crucial”.

Disabled people might have assistive devices – such as glasses or wheelchairs – and these could be swept away if there was a tsunami, and they would be left even more vulnerable.

The organisations also help source replacements for mobility equipment and sensory aids, so disabled people can get their mobility back.

How disabled people can prepare in New Zealand

Everyone should prepare for an emergency by making a plan, says Gary Knowles, director of emergency management at Civil Defence New Zealand.

“This means thinking about how an emergency could affect you and deciding what you can do yourself or what you might need support with,” he says.

“If you’re disabled, it can also be a good idea to build a support network of people who can help you in an emergency. In an emergency, you might need to ask for help to do things you can usually do independently. You should have a support team at each place where you spend a large part of your day. Talk with them about your emergency plan so they know the best way to help you in an emergency.”

He says Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Groups are required to consider the needs of disabled people in their emergency planning, however, there is more progress to be made.

“We recognise that people have a wide range of disabilities, which can affect people in different ways, creating accessibility barriers to information, places, and societal connection, and generally affect how people get through an emergency.”

Civil Defence New Zealand also resources and information online for people with disabilities.