A tabletop exercise in Athens, planned with the national disability confederation, in which people with different disabilities took part in a simulated evacuation of a building after an earthquake and fire.
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Inclusive Evacuation Exercise: Persons with Disabilities Help Design and Play a Building Evacuation in Athens
General Information
ISIG
A 2023 tabletop exercise in Athens in which persons with disabilities, through their national confederation, helped design and take part in a simulated evacuation of a building after an earthquake and fire. It was organised by the European Center for Forest Fires (ECFF) of the Council of Europe and Greece’s General Secretariat for Civil Protection, with the National Confederation of Persons with Disabilities (ESAmeA) providing the building and helping to plan the scenarios and the roles. Participants with mobility and vision impairments played assigned roles, firefighters and emergency medical staff took part, and demonstrations covered guiding techniques for blind people and a powered evacuation chair. About 50 people attended and joined a debriefing at the end.
Persons with disabilities are often more exposed in disasters because of barriers in buildings, information and services. The report cites a UN survey from 2013 in which 71 percent of respondents with disabilities had no personal preparedness plan and only 14 percent had been consulted when community preparedness plans were drawn up. In Greece, the report estimates that 10 to 15 percent of the population has a disability, and the Sendai Framework commits countries to include people with disabilities in risk reduction work.
Greece’s civil protection system is led nationally by the General Secretariat for Civil Protection within the Ministry for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, which has already taken steps towards inclusion: self-protection guidelines in Braille, videos with sign language and subtitles, a 112 service that locates callers from a text message, accessible awareness campaigns, and regional lists of contacts for persons with disabilities. The European Center for Forest Fires, a specialised centre of the Council of Europe’s EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement, has worked with the Secretariat since 2002.
The exercise followed a 2017 conference on evacuating buildings in emergencies for persons with disabilities, and a workshop held on 8 November 2022 in Athens with over 100 participants. The workshop concluded that persons with disabilities need to be involved in every phase of disaster management, and that evacuation exercises should be inclusive. The exercise was the practical step: a joint project in 2022–2023 with the European Centre on Prevention and Forecasting of Earthquakes. It took place on 26 October 2023 at the ESAmeA building in Athens.
Hazard Type
Geographical Scope - Nuts
Geographical Scope
Population Size
Population Density
Needs Addressed
- Exclusion from planning. Persons with disabilities are seldom consulted when emergency and evacuation plans are prepared, so plans may not match their needs.
- No single solution. Different disabilities need different approaches, and responders lack standard procedures and training for rescuing persons with disabilities.
- Barriers in buildings and information. Accessible routes, exits, refuge areas, alarms and emergency messages are not always available.
- Complex emergencies. An earthquake followed by fire and smoke creates several threats at once, and responders and persons with disabilities seldom practise together.
The exercise involved persons with different types of disability, including mobility and vision impairment, and also showed how to support people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Caregivers and personal assistants were also meant to be involved. The report’s lessons mention hearing impairment (visual smoke alarms), hidden disabilities, and other groups such as children, older people and pregnant women who may stay longer in refuge areas, but these were not roles in the exercise.
National civil protection in Greece is led by the General Secretariat for Civil Protection, which co-organised the exercise. The exercise was run in cooperation with the disability confederation ESAmeA and its institute, the European Center for Forest Fires and the European Centre on Prevention and Forecasting of Earthquakes (both Council of Europe EUR-OPA centres), the Hellenic Fire Service, the National Centre of Emergency Care and the national earthquake protection organisation. A working group of 13 people from these bodies planned it.
Greece has a national civil protection system with response plans, regular drills (for example annual earthquake drills in schools), accessible self-protection guidelines and campaigns, and a 112 emergency service with accessibility features. The report notes gaps for persons with disabilities: personal emergency evacuation plans are recommended but not described as widespread, standard rescue procedures for persons with disabilities are missing, and exercises with their participation are not yet regular.
Greece has a national fire service, an emergency medical centre, a 112 service that can locate callers by text message and a civil protection secretariat, which together form developed response services. The report warns that accessibility of the built environment is uneven, and calls for accessible evacuation routes, exits, refuge areas, visual smoke alarms and accessible emergency messages.
To bring the disability community into the design and the running of the exercise, so that the scenarios, the roles and the lessons come from persons with disabilities and their organisations together with civil protection, fire and medical services.
A working group of 13 people from eight organisations, including the disability confederation and its institute, began work about five months before the event. Representatives of the confederation were invited at the early stages to build the evacuation scenarios and to define the roles. The exercise ran in three parts: an opening to explain the rules (about 30 minutes), the tabletop exercise with role-play in the form of a short drill (about two hours), and a hot debriefing and open discussion in which 50 attendees shared comments. A facilitator guided the steps of each scenario.
Representatives of the disability community shared in building the scenarios and in defining the roles, and took an active part in running the drill, so they influenced how the exercise was designed.
Firefighters, medical staff, officials and persons with disabilities, along with caregivers and assistants, practised together, saw guiding techniques for visually impaired people, techniques for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and a powered evacuation chair. The workshop that preceded the exercise showed a core network of people willing to support later activities.
Vulnerable Groups
Governance
Emergency Preparedness
Infrastructure Readiness
Engagement Level
Empowerment Level
Implementation
The organisers describe the main asset as the early involvement of the disability community, from the preparation of the scenarios through to the drill. The scenario is a complex emergency (an earthquake followed by fire and smoke). Participants practised with different types of disability, with a facilitator, demonstrations of rescue techniques, and a debrief that brought first responders and persons with disabilities into direct conversation. It was held in an accessible building provided by the disability confederation.
Greek
The European Center for Forest Fires (ECFF), Greece, a specialised centre of the Council of Europe’s EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement that operates under the Greek Ministry for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, with the General Secretariat for Civil Protection and in cooperation with ESAmeA and its institute IN-ESAmeA, the European Centre on Prevention and Forecasting of Earthquakes, the Hellenic Fire Service and the National Centre of Emergency Care.
ECFF has cooperated with the General Secretariat for Civil Protection since its creation in 2002 and works on wildfires, evacuation planning and the protection of people at risk. It organised the 2017 conference and the 2022 workshop on inclusion in emergencies before this exercise, and the exercise drew on operational experience from the fire service and the emergency care centre.
ECFF; the General Secretariat for Civil Protection; ESAmeA and IN-ESAmeA, including persons with disabilities playing roles; the European Centre on Prevention and Forecasting of Earthquakes; the Earthquake Planning and Protection Organisation; the Hellenic Fire Service; the National Centre of Emergency Care; a facilitator; and about 50 attendees from these organisations and related services.
- Identify the need through a workshop with the disability community, academics and operational staff (8 November 2022).
- Set up a working group of the organisations involved, including the disability confederation, about five months before the exercise.
- Build the scenarios (an earthquake followed by fire from a short circuit) and define the roles, with representatives of the disability community taking part from the start.
- Run the exercise in an accessible building provided by the confederation: an opening and rules (about 30 minutes), then the tabletop exercise and role-play led by a facilitator (about two hours), with demonstrations of guiding techniques and a powered evacuation chair.
- Hold a hot debriefing and open discussion with all attendees.
- Write up the draft lessons in a published report for use in future exercises.
- Human: a working group of 13 people, a facilitator, representatives of persons with disabilities, firefighters and medical staff as participants and experts.
- Material: an accessible building (provided by the confederation), a scenario, and equipment for demonstrations such as a powered evacuation chair.
- Financial: the sources do not state the funding. The resources appear to be mainly contributions from national bodies (a Council of Europe project framework).
The project ran in 2022–2023 with defined steps: a workshop in November 2022, a working group from about May 2023, and the exercise on 26 October 2023, with a debriefing after the drill. The report was published in 2024.
Experience of the Implementing Organisation in DRM
Target Audience
Resources Required
Timeframe & Phases
Participation Results
The organisers conclude that involving persons with disabilities from the planning stage, and not only in the drill, is essential. Universal design should be part of disaster risk reduction, and a one-size-fits-all approach does not work, since each type of disability needs separate treatment. Personal emergency evacuation plans should be tested regularly with persons with disabilities, caregivers and assistants. Caregivers, personal assistants and, in some cases, service dogs can help rescuers, but dogs need special training. Equipment such as wheelchairs should be replaced quickly if lost. Responders gained a chance to hear persons with disabilities directly. These are draft conclusions from a debriefing.
No public information on difficulties met while organising the exercise was found in the sources reviewed. The report describes the lessons the participants drew, which point to the main challenges. Needs differ for each type of disability, so the organisers built the roles with the disability community and showed different techniques. The exercise was a tabletop with role-play and not a full-scale drill, which limits how far real evacuation difficulties could be tested. Responders lack standard procedures for rescuing persons with disabilities, and the report calls for a training module for rescuers. The loss of personal equipment such as a customised wheelchair was raised, and the report asks for fast replacement.
The report matches specific problems to specific measures: exclusion from planning is met by involving representative organisations early; differences between disabilities by treating each type separately and testing personal emergency evacuation plans; lack of rescue procedures by training for rescuers and the role of caregivers; accessibility gaps by building codes, visual alarms and accessible messages; and competing threats by risk triage.
Risk & Mitigation Plan
Scalability and Sustainability
No public information on a sustainability model was found in the sources reviewed. Based on the available information, it can be inferred that continuation depends on ECFF and the General Secretariat for Civil Protection repeating the exercise, on ESAmeA and its institute taking part, and on local authorities adopting inclusive exercises as a routine. The report recommends regular exercises but does not describe a funding or governance arrangement for them.
The approach can be repeated by other civil protection authorities, cities or organisations. Co-planning with a disability organisation, a scenario-based tabletop with role-play, a facilitator, demonstrations by fire and medical services, and a debriefing scale the method. The hazard and the scenario, the building, the disability groups involved, the partners, and the exercise level must be adapted from tabletop to full-scale. It needs an accessible venue, a willing disability organisation and trained facilitators. The report recommends moving to regular, larger exercises and to an international rescuer training module.
Technology was limited to assistive and rescue equipment demonstrated during the exercise, such as a powered evacuation chair, and no digital tools are described.
No public information on the cost of the exercise was found in the sources reviewed. The building was provided by ESAmeA, and set-up involved the working group’s time, a facilitator, demonstration equipment and the printing of the report.
No public information on ongoing costs was found. It can be inferred that repeating the exercise would require staff time from the partner organisations, a venue and a facilitator, with higher costs for drills or full-scale exercises.
Participants agreed that such exercises should be held regularly by the relevant authorities, with local stakeholders, and especially near disaster-prone areas such as the wildland-urban interface, and at table-top, drill and full-scale levels. The workshop that preceded the exercise showed a core network of people willing to support future work, which could carry the approach forward. The report asks for standard rescue procedures and a pan-European training module for rescuers.