Disaster risk and elderly in the Asia-Pacific region

Abstract

The issue of an aging population has long been considered a critical problem for many countries because the elderly are generally considered one of the most vulnerable groups in society and are especially at risk during a disaster. Unfortunately, there are different aspects closely related to this issue that are being neglected. In this review study, the Disaster Risk and Age Index, which was developed by HelpAge International based on the framework of the well-developed INFORM Disaster Risk Index, was used to summarize the situation regarding disasters for the 39 countries in Asia-Pacific region, with a focus on the elderly. The index dimensional and categorical scoring and ranking of the Asia-Pacific countries were compared and analyzed. The heterogeneous distribution of the index's dimension and category scores revealed the strengths and weaknesses of different countries and the areas that could be improved. The result showed that for a country to have a high overall index ranking, it is not necessary to have outstanding scores in all three index dimensions. Moreover, it is also interesting to note that the high overall index ranking countries are not necessarily well-developed countries; small island states can also have a high overall index ranking. All of these findings demonstrate that even small and less developed countries can have a high overall index ranking if focus policies are formulated based on weak but improvable areas.