Social and systemic factors such as those associated with age, gender and gender identity, race and ethnicity, disability status, socioeconomic status, immigration status, language barriers, and others are tied resilience and vulnerability throughout the disaster cycle. Barriers to recovery common among many survivors of disasters, such as accessing supplies, information, and resources, can be further exacerbated by disability status, experiencing extreme poverty or being unhoused, non-normative gender identity and gender expression, immigration status, age, and other factors. For example, households experiencing poverty will be unlikely to have adequate resources to build a 2-week emergency kit. Individuals who identify as transgender are more likely than the general population to experience gender based violence and harassment. Households with a primary language other than English will experience barriers to accessing critical information if it is only provided in English.
These examples illustrate the importance of a whole-community approach to emergency management and disaster risk reduction, where space for diverse experiences and voices can help illuminate and alleviate disaster impacts on diverse communities.