Take action
Preparing early helps communities stay safe, connected and ready to respond when emergencies occur. Learn about your local risks, sign up for warnings, make a plan and identify who may need additional support while ensuring information is accessible to everyone.
Prepare early and start the conversation
Visit Get Ready Queensland to understand your risks and make your plan. Consider not only your household’s needs, but also those of neighbours, friends, loved ones and community networks who may have different needs and abilities.
One of the most important actions anyone can take is to start a conversation about emergency preparedness and inclusion.
People with disability are experts in their own lives and understand the supports that work best for them. Rather than making assumptions, ask what support may be needed before, during and after an emergency.
Conversations can help identify:
- preferred communication methods
- accessibility requirements
- support needs during evacuations or power outages
- essential equipment, medication or services
- emergency contacts and back-up supports.
When you talk with someone with disability, remember:
- speak to the person directly
- use plain language
- give the person time to answer
- listen without interrupting
- ask before offering assistance
- respect privacy and personal choices.
If you’re unsure where to start, these resources can help guide respectful and inclusive conversations:
- Queensland Government inclusive language and communication toolkit
- People with Disability Australia language guide.
You know your needs best. Preparing early can help ensure you have the support, equipment and information you need during an emergency.
You can tell friends, family, support workers or others that you:
- need information in a particular format (Auslan, Easy Read, Easy English, large print etc)
- need help to understand warnings
- need help to contact your service provider.
Ask questions if information is unclear and make sure you know who to contact for support before an emergency happens. Remember, all Queenslanders have the right to ask for information that is accessible to them.
Take action to prepare early
When preparing, consider:
- the medication, equipment and supports you use each day
- how you will receive emergency warnings and information
- what you will do if power, internet or phone services are disrupted
- what support you may need if you need to leave home
- back-up arrangements if your usual supports are unavailable.
You can:
- plan by writing and regularly reviewing a person-centred emergency plan (PDF)
- write down your key support needs and keep them with your emergency plan
- review your plan often and update it as your needs and supports change
- consider sharing a copy with one or more trusted people—only share information you feel comfortable sharing
- pack an emergency kit
- share your plan with trusted people
- create a support team of family, friends, neighbours, carers, support workers, advocates or members of local community groups
- discuss your emergency support needs with your NDIS or community support providers.
If you are a NDIS participant, you can talk to your support coordinator, plan nominee, provider or local area coordinator about your emergency support needs.
If you are not a NDIS participant, you can still access support through community services, health services, local council, advocacy services or the Disability Gateway.
Learn from others
View first-hand accounts from Queenslanders with disability who have experienced severe weather events:
Inclusive communities are built through connection. Neighbours can help make emergency planning more inclusive by taking the time to get to know one another.
Before severe weather events or other emergencies, you can:
- start conversations about emergency preparedness
- exchange details and establish ways to stay in contact
- check whether neighbours would like support during severe weather events
- share information about local warnings and preparedness resources
- identify safe and practical ways to assist before and after an emergency
- encourage your neighbours to prepare a personal emergency plan and emergency kit.
You could ask:
- Would you like me to check in if there is a severe weather warning?
- What is the best way to contact you?
- Is there anything in particular you are concerned about during an emergency or severe weather event?
- Are there any practical things I can do to help with before a storm or weather event? This could include securing items in the yard, help with pets, charging devices, getting groceries or medications etc.
- Do you have what you need if the power goes out?
- Is there someone else I should contact if you need help?
Learn from others
Read real-world, community-led initiatives that have helped strengthen communities and improve preparedness for future disasters.
- Queensland Reconstruction Authority case studies:
Carers, family and friends play an important role in helping people prepare for emergencies and severe weather.
The first step is to create a household emergency plan. Knowing your risks, priorities and how to prepare will help you support others to do the same.
Talking about emergency preparedness can also help build confidence and reduce stress. You may wish to share your own emergency plan and discuss the steps you have taken to prepare.
Talk with the person you support about what they would like included in their emergency plan.
This may include:
- daily support needs such as food, water, medicine, transportation, pets and assistance animals
- communication needs, including assistive technology, accessible information, power requirements and charging options
- personal care needs, such as mobility aids, clothing and continence materials.
You can also discuss:
- how they would like to be contacted in an emergency
- who they would like contacted in an emergency
- where they would go if they needed to leave home
- what they would do if their home or community was evacuated or severely impacted
- backup arrangements if regular supports are unavailable.
Backup support may include another support worker, a family member, friend, neighbour, health service or community organisation.
Once the plan is ready, make sure it is easy to find. If appropriate, share it with support networks and update it annually. The plan should also be reviewed regularly and updated whenever support needs, contact details or risks change.
If you would like further assistance, you can access support through:
- community services
- health services
- Carer Gateway
- advocacy services
- Disability Gateway.
Learn from others
View Aunty Semah and Gabe’s story as they prepared for Cyclone Alfred. Aunty Semah is a full-time carer for her 34-year-old son, who has multiple disabilities and is non-verbal, requiring care 24/7. Aunty Semah works closely with a team of support workers to make sure her son has the care, stability and routine he needs, especially during severe weather events.
Disability and community service organisations also have important roles during emergencies.
It is important that emergency and business continuity plans keep people safe and maintain key supports wherever possible.
In partnership with people with disability, organisations can:
- plan for staff shortages and service disruptions
- keep contact lists up to date
- discuss emergency plans and support with clients
- provide information in accessible formats
- train staff and volunteers in disability inclusion and emergency preparedness
- build relationships with local councils and emergency services
- review what worked after an event.
Plans should include what to do if staff or support people cannot travel, phones or internet stop working, power goes out, a client needs urgent support, equipment fails, a person needs transport, a service site is closed, or a support worker cannot attend.
Your organisation can also support inclusive emergency planning by:
- sharing information in plain English
- ensuring venues are accessible
- checking access to toilets, parking and transport
- using captions on videos
- adding alternative text (alt text) to images
- making posters and fact sheets easy to read
- providing clear and easy-to-find contact information on websites, posters and flyers
- providing information in different formats
- involving people with disability in planning and decision-making
- connecting people with local warnings, services and supports.
Learn from others
Read more about Carinbundi’s development of their Emergency and Disaster Management Preparedness Training Program—in collaboration with Bundaberg Council—to specifically target the needs of adults with disabilities, providing them the opportunity to consider their individual needs and develop their own plans.
More information
Resources/tools
- Get Ready Queensland’s inclusive preparedness information brings together tips, lived experienced videos, and other useful resources to help you and your support people better prepare for emergencies.
- Community Recovery’s Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction resources includes tips, resources, and tools to enable people living with disabilities, their family, carers and people who work in the community sector to take action in becoming disaster resilient.
- Collaborating 4 Inclusion’s Person-Centred Emergency Preparedness (P-CEP) resources help to match emergency planning to the supports people need for their health and safety in emergencies, including the P-CEP workbook (PDF).
- The Australian Disaster Resilience Knowledge Hub provides information, guidance and tools to support disaster risk reduction and resilience.
- The Australian Disaster Resilience Handbook 5, Communicating with People with Disability: National Guidelines for Emergency Managers (PDF) provides information to support emergency managers to better understand the diverse communication needs of people with disability.
- National Emergency Management Agency’s Disability Inclusion Emergency Management Toolkit supports emergency planners, governments, and disability and community organisations to consider disability inclusion as an integral part of emergency preparedness planning.
- JobAccess also encourages employers to create evacuation plans for employees with disability.
To keep up to date with warnings, alerts and updates, it is helpful to familiarise yourself with the following information and service websites:
- Queensland disaster and emergency information
- Australian Warning System
- Queensland local disaster dashboards
- Bureau of Meteorology weather warnings
- Queensland Fire Department warnings and incidents
- Queensland traffic and road conditions.
Training
Queensland Government disability inclusion training is available to help you learn more about the benefits of inclusion and the small changes you can make that make a big difference for people with disability.