The Council of Europe’s EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement is launching its Toolkit on Major Hazards and People with Disabilities at a one-day Workshop on 21 May in Brussels. The Toolkit provides guidance and examples of good practice for civil protection professionals, decision-makers and people with disabilities to reduce their vulnerability to disasters.

Initiatives already undertaken in some Council of Europe member States include alerts via mobile devices, sign language courses for firefighters and communication materials for rescuers and people with disabilities. The Toolkit pays particular attention to the local level and provides guidance on how to include local particularities into a generalised structure at regional or national level.

The expertise and pioneering work developed by the Council of Europe has gained further importance with the adoption of the very inclusive Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 at the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, on 18 March 2015.

• Agenda
• Major Hazards and People with Disabilities. A toolkit for good practice
• More information