Disaster experiences of persons with disabilities: A phenomenological study

Persons with disabilities who must overcome many barriers even in order to lead an ordinary life in daily life face much more important problems in events that interrupt normal life such as disasters. Identifying these challenges they face or may face is vital in the disaster preparation process. Despite this, studies examining the experiences of persons with disabilities in disasters are very limited. In this context, in this study, the experiences of persons with disabilities who experienced the 30 October 2020 İzmir earthquake were examined with a transcendental-phenomenological model. It was aimed to reveal the experiences of persons with disabilities during the earthquake. Within the scope of the research, interviews were held with 27 participants with various disabilities who experienced the 30 October 2020 Izmir earthquake. The 982-minute interview audio recording and 50,321-word transcription obtained as a result of the interviews were analyzed using the phenomenological analysis technique of Moustakas and the Maxqda qualitative analysis program. The essence of the phenomenon created as a result of the analyzes and the components that affect the disaster experience of persons with disabilities were determined. It was determined that disaster preparedness level of persons with disabilities was very low. Persons with disabilities faced significant difficulties in the evacuation process, poverty affected their disaster experiences negatively, they depended critically on family and community support, they faced significant difficulties regarding accessibility in the areas they sheltered after the disaster, their psychological resilience levels affected their experiences, they could not be involved in disaster management processes and they had difficulty in expressing their problems for various reasons.