Efforts to reduce disaster risk around the world should purposefully consider the needs of potentially vulnerable populations, including people with disabilities. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (SFDRR) is one of the few global disaster-related frameworks with a focus on people with disabilities. The objective of this article is to assess the inclusion of people with disabilities in disaster risk reduction strategies worldwide since the establishment of SFDRR as gleaned from research. Several studies were reviewed to observe how the four priorities were implemented and operationalized in various countries to reduce the risk for people with disabilities. Findings indicate that initial applications of the SFDRR have compelled purposeful actions, but there is still room for improvement regarding people with disabilities. The results conclude that slight variations on the definitions of disaster or disability may increase marginalization. Three key themes emerged: (1) the intersectionality of disability with other dimensions of vulnerability warrants focused consideration; (2) enhanced disaster preparedness requires more attention in order to empower people with disabilities; and (3) negative cultural attitudes need to shift to enable purposeful inclusion of people with disabilities. Additional studies on the global investments made are encouraged to share lessons learned regarding the integration of people with disabilities.

During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, the use of technology to continue societal functions, maintain daily living, and gather information became near ubiquitous overnight. In the United States, universities moved to remote online education, non-essential personnel were asked to work from home, many businesses were forced to rapidly embrace online purchasing and even entertainers held concerts on social media platforms. Professional medical personnel, as well as state and local officials, held daily press briefings about the virus on television, radio, and social media. Disaster research has shown that often disasters exacerbate preexisting inequalities during all-hazards and therefore there are several populations likely to be more at risk, such as people with disabilities, and older adults. While complications from the coronavirus were more severe for older adults and those with preexisting health conditions, the preparedness and response efforts to contain the virus lessened the resiliency of other populations during the US outbreaks, potentially hampering their ability to recover at the same rate. For example, several press conferences from officials failed to include or display ASL interpreters. This would put some Americans at a disadvantage since they may have been unable to receive all of the pertinent information on how to keep safe. Furthermore, with nearly 22% of households without broadband internet access (per Pew Research Center), several individuals will not be able to take advantage of the rapid remote learning and work-from-home recommendations. Even when individuals have access to the Internet, older adults have been found to be less knowledgeable about privacy and security tools than younger adults.

As a vulnerable population, immigrants can be disproportionately affected by disasters. Because of their legal and migratory status, immigrants may have different challenges, needs, and possibilities when facing a disaster. Yet, within disaster studies, immigrants are rarely studied alone. Instead, they are often considered part of the large heterogeneous group of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. This racial classification points to a gap in the literature and in our understanding of how disadvantaged groups may cope with disasters. To address this gap, the current study hypothesizes that: (1) Immigrants have unique experiences and disaster impacts compared to the broader aggregated category of racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S. and (2) There are variations in disaster experiences and impacts across different types of immigrant subgroups beyond refugees. To explore these hypotheses, a study of the literature across six databases from 2018 to 2023was conducted. The review identified a total of 17 articles discussing immigrant experiences during disasters. Major cross-cutting themes on immigrant disaster experiences include fear of deportation, restrictive immigration status, excessive economic burden and labor exploitation, employment rigidity, adverse health outcomes, limited informational resources and limited social capital, selective disaster relief measures, and infrastructural challenges as regards to housing and transportation. Many of the themes identified are unique to immigrants, such as the fear of deportation, restrictive immigration status and visa policies, and selective disaster relief measures.

As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are increasingly integrated into emergency management, ethical considerations demand greater attention. Essential components of comprehensive emergency management include mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery, which should serve as the foundation for integrating AI-driven science and technologies to effectively safeguard populations and infrastructure in times of crisis. This paper reviewed the ethical challenges of AI in emergency management in terms of critical issues, best practices, applications, emerging ethical considerations, and strategies addressing ethical challenges. Three core ethical themes are identified: algorithmic bias; privacy, transparency and accountability; and human–AI collaboration. This paper thoroughly analyzed the associated ethical challenges, reviewed the theoretical frameworks and proposed strategies to mitigate ethical challenges by strengthening the audits of algorithms, enhancing transparency in AI decision-making, and incorporating stakeholder engagement. Finally, the importance of creating policies to govern AI ethics was discussed.

This study gauges the preparedness levels of individuals (younger and older) across hazards and investigates their willingness to use emerging technology for disaster preparedness. Older adults are among the most vulnerable during disasters and more likely to be displaced. As climate change contributes to the increased frequency, intensity, and scale of disasters, the number of areas impacted by multiple hazards has also increased. In December 2023, a nationwide survey with over 1,000 respondents was launched. The results indicate a variation in the perception of preparedness across hazards, at the individual level. Additionally, most respondents would use emerging technology to help them improve their disaster preparedness, including smart speakers, phones, mobile appliances, cars, wearable devices, robots, and virtual reality devices. Findings indicate that older adults may be willing to use emerging technology that they are uncomfortable with for disaster preparedness, necessitating training, exercises, and qualitative research to understand how and why

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the status of literature on the adoption and perception of personal intelligent agents (PIAs) among older adults. Design/methodology/approach: A semi-systematic literature review approach was adopted. To locate pertinent articles, we searched 11 databases across multiple disciplines and utilized search engines like Google Scholar. The search was conducted using the following keywords and keyword combinations: older adults, elderly, PIAs and conversational agents. The selected articles included peer-reviewed articles published between 2013 and 2023 and written in English. Findings: Older adults utilize PIAs for such tasks as entertainment, time and reminders, information searches, daily assistants, smart home control, healthcare and companionship. Additionally, older adults face challenges when using PIAs, including privacy concerns, uncertain information, out-of-context behavior, speech recognition, wake words and complex query processing. Originality/value: It contributes to the body of knowledge on the use of emerging technologies by older adults and offers recommendations for future PIA design. It bridges a critical gap in understanding how older adults engage with and adopt PIAs.