WOMEN’S SERVICES IN DISASTER CONTEXTS:
DIRECT AND INDIRECT IMPACTS

"What we give them is all that they have," a domestic violence worker in an active seismic zone said of the losses suffered from a simple fire in the shelter.

For women in crisis, transition houses and counselling programs offer lifeline services and potentially life-saving safe space. Other women’s services provide vital support and resources to women challenged by the conditions of everyday life, among them:

• immigrant women’s services and First Nations women’s groups
• community women’s centers and senior centres
• advocates for homeless women, domestic workers, migrants
• disabled women’s groups
• support groups for single mothers, widows, HIV-positive women and others
• government bureaus and departments
• women’s coalitions, political groups
• child care/dependent care networks
• crisis lines and other community mental health services

What happens to women’s services—to their staff, facilities, volunteers, equipment, supplies, board, clients, finances, and funding agencies—in the aftermath of a major ice storm, earthquake, tornado or flood? While the emergency needs of those in child care facilities, schools, nursing homes, hospitals and similar institutions have been identified, the needs of women’s services and their clients have not.

Because the demand for social and human services increases during disaster recovery and women are particularly hard-hit, women’s services play a key role in long-term community recovery—yet must respond with reduced resources, including:

• on-site emergency sheltering and response (who planned?)
• disrupted communications (where is everybody?)
• damaged or destroyed office equipment, furniture, vehicles, tools, supplies, files, computer disks (how to replace?)
• damaged or destroyed facility; evacuation and relocation (how? where?)
• reduced staff, volunteer time, board time, available overtime (who?)
• increased staff turn-over, absenteeism, conflict, stress (how to help?)
• disrupted grant deadlines, fund-raisers (now what?)
• disrupted community and interagency networks (what’s happening?)
• invisibility in recovery process; competition for scarce funds (why women?)