KU disabilities researchers say housing inadequate for tornado evacuation

LAWRENCE -- People with mobility impairments need safe places to evacuate during tornadoes but for some there may be no safe place to go because of the structural inadequacies of some existing and new housing, according to University of Kansas disabilities researchers who are conducting a national study of disaster planning and response.

Michael Fox, associate professor of health policy and management at KU, co-directs the three-year grant, Disaster Preparation and Emergency Response for People with Mobility Impairments, with Glen White, director of the Research and Training Center for Independent Living (RTC/IL). The grant is funded by the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"A safe place to evacuate is most critical in retirement communities where many people with mobility impairments live," said Fox, "If there is no central shelter or if it is only accessible by stairs, these residents are clearly very vulnerable if a tornado strikes the dwelling."

"The issue of accessible safety during natural disasters in Douglas County, Kansas appears to be very similar in places like Bay County, Florida or Redwood, Minnesota, two counties included in the study," Fox said.

"The Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) requires areas of rescue assistance during fires in newly constructed public accommodations, but does not require safe rooms for tornadoes," Fox said.

He added that ADA requirements do not apply to single-family housing and that neither federal, state or local Fair Housing laws require safe rooms or tornado shelters in single or multi-family housing. For example, Lawrence city building codes do not currently require that a safe room be included in new single or multi-family construction.

But the importance of safe rooms is gaining support.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency provides guidelines for construction of a safe room, according to Fox, and locally, Tenants to Homeowners, Inc., has taken the initiative to include a safe room in all new housing it builds.

A safe room is a small windowless room, either completely encapsulated in concrete- walls, ceiling and floors - or a prefabricated steel structure located inside the home. Safe rooms can range in size from that needed to protect an entire retirement community, as in Osage County, Okla., to something small enough to protect a family, as in White's home in Lawrence.

"We strongly recommend that homebuilders, city planners, groups like Tenants to Homeowners, Inc. and Habitat for Humanity, realtors' associations and other interested stakeholders, develop, review, and implement tornado shelter options, for all new single family dwellings," said Fox.

The Home Builders Association of Tulsa, Oklahoma, for example, has received national recognition and awards in their efforts to make Tulsa a disaster resistant community.

The RTC/IL is planning to convene a community forum for the exchange of experiences and ideas to promote accessible disaster safety planning within Douglas County this summer.

"Cataloging the experiences of members of the disability community who went through this storm now, when it is fresh in their minds, will be important so that lessons can be learned and improved policies proposed," Fox said.

The Research and Training Center on Independent Living is one of the 12 centers and more than 140 programs of KU's Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies that serve both rural and urban Kansans through research-based solutions to the problems of human and community development, disabilities, and aging.