Bridging Disaster Risk Reduction, Community Work, and Gerontechnology. Potentials, Ambivalences, Challenges

Abstract

PURPOSE The Round Table brings together discussions on disaster risk reduction, community work, and gerontechnology. The participants work in diverse yet overlapping areas, with expertise in assistive and digital technologies in social and healthcare, social work as disaster relief and community work, rescue robotics, and global disaster risk reduction. Within a co-creative discussion format, the participants engage in the exchange and creation of future knowledge related to the role of communities, technologies, and robotics in disaster risk reduction with a special emphasis on the situation of elderly people. The goal is to facilitate a dialogue between previously separate discussions on social, community-based disaster relief on one hand, and gerontechnology and robotics on the other. This dialogue aims to develop practical approaches and new visions for community-centered disaster relief together with and for people in need, as well as to explore the possibilities of gerontechnology based on best practice examples and exchange of experiences. ISSUE According to the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction definition, a disaster is "a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or society causing widespread human, material, economic, or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources" (UNISDR, 2004, 1). Disasters result from the combination of hazards, vulnerabilities, and insufficient capacity to reduce potential negative consequences. They can be natural (e.g., floods), human-made (e.g., terrorist attacks), or a combination of both. The international community responded to the increase in disasters by adopting the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR 2015-2030) in 2015, emphasizing focused actions at local, national, regional, and global levels (De Silva et al., 2023). On the one hand, it is particularly vulnerable groups and recipients of social and health care services that are especially affected by disasters and need specific emphasis in this context (Alston, Hazeleger, Hargreaves, 2019; Dominelli, 2012). This includes the elderly, individuals in care and senior facilities, people with disabilities and individuals who depend e.g. on the continuous functioning of ventilators or other technical devices. On the other hand, the question arises as to what possibilities digital innovations, such as rescue robots, can offer for the retrieval and assistance of people before, during and after a disaster (Habib, Baudoin, 2010). The participants of the Round Table take the particular vulnerability of older individuals and addressees of social work and healthcare in the event of a disaster as the starting point. They bring together experiences and research from Austria, Germany and other countries and discuss the role of communities, of robotics and assistive technologies in disasters, considering their potential usefulness for communities in need, as well as ambivalences and challenges.

GUDING QUESTIONS How are communities and addressees of health care and social work, especially older adults, affected by disasters? How do communities and local, regional, national, and international support structures handle disasters? What role can assistive and digital technologies, robotics, and AI play in disasters? What potentials do they have, and where do ambivalences and challenges arise? How can digital tools be orchestrated and embedded in a community-centric, participative and needs driven manner within affected communities?