Disaster Response Organizations - Trans Survivor Toolkit

Disaster response organizations regularly serve transgender survivors of violence, even if they may not realize it. Disasters are often accompanied by an increase in interpersonal violence, particularly intimate partner and sexual violence. Yet the unique needs of transgender people and survivors of violence are too often left out of disaster, response, and recovery considerations.

How Disasters Increase Risk for Survivors

Disasters can increase stress, isolation, instability, and dependence on others. These conditions can create opportunities for people who cause harm to increase control over others. Survivors consistently share that violence, abuse, and control can escalate before, during, and after disasters – especially when a disaster has a warning period, such as a hurricane.

There are also documented increases in rates of sexual violence during and after disasters. Service providers should anticipate that survivors may be navigating both the direct impact of the disaster and increased risk of violence or coercion.

Intimate Partner Violence and Disaster-Related Control

In situations involving intimate partner abuse or domestic violence, an abusive partner may use the stress and disruption of a disaster as an excuse to escalate violent or controlling tactics. They may also try to control or interfere with disaster preparations, evacuation, shelter access, or in other ways that increase danger.

Survivors have reported that abusive partners may:

Prevent them from preparing for a storm or evacuation.
Force them to remain in unsafe conditions.
Keep them from accessing food, water, transportation, medication, or communication.
Harm or threaten companion animals.
Control finances, relief funds or recovery-related finances.
Steal disaster assistance payments.
Prevent repairs needed to live safely.
Escalate physical or sexual violence during or after the disaster.

One organization has created a natural disaster power and control wheel which illustrates these dynamics – it can be accessed here. Note that this wheel uses very binary and gendered language that does not reflect all experiences of intimate partner violence.

Common barriers trans survivors face

Trans people face numerous barriers to accessing disaster services – before, during, and after disasters.

Gendered services

Shelters and other public accommodations that lack gender-neutral or gender-inclusive spaces may be unsafe or inaccessible for many trans people. Some trans people may avoid shelters entirely if they do not know whether they will be able to sleep, use the bathroom, or access services safely.

Identification requirements

Trans people are less likely than non-trans people to have identification, or to have identification that matches their name and gender. Many disaster relief services require documentation or identification, which can place trans people in unsafe situations or make services impossible to access .

Violence and harassment in shelters

Trans people report high rates of harassment in shelter environments. This violence keeps many people from accessing disaster shelters or causes them to leave before it is safe to do so.

Services that do not protect survivors from the perpetrators

For survivors of intimate partner violence or stalking, being able to maintain their privacy is critical to safety from the perpetrator of harm. Disaster services are rarely designed to protect survivors from abuse partners or stalkers. In many communities, it may be easy to predict or determine which services a person will access based on where they live. Shelters also offer little privacy, making it easier for an abusive person to find a survivor.

Inability to access relief funds

Trans/nonbinary people as well as survivors of violence are often less economically secure. They are more likely to rent than to own a home; less likely to have savings or insurance; and more likely to have fewer resources overall. Disaster relief funds are often designed for homeowners or require people to pay for repairs upfront and seek reimbursement later. These requirements may make relief funds inaccessible to many trans/nonbinary survivors.

Common experiences of trans survivors

Disaster organizations can improve access to services by recognizing that trans survivors may be navigating multiple, overlapping safety needs. These may include the immediate effects of the disaster, the impacts of violence or abuse, and barriers created by systems that are not designed with trans/nonbinary people in mind.

Trans people may also be experiencing with violence or abuse that affects their ability to access disaster services. Perpetrators of violence may use force or coercion, surveillance, or financial control to prevent survivors from seeking support. Abusive partners may also steal relief funds or interfere with recovery resources.

Trauma can also affect a person’s ability to access services. Survivors may not feel safe in public spaces; struggle with fight, flight, freeze, or other trauma responses that can make crowds or unpredictable environments difficult to navigate. Trauma can also impact executive functioning, making it difficult to plan, organize, make decisions, or follow through.

Because disasters themselves can be traumatizing, organizations involved in disaster work should understand the impact of trauma and develop trauma-informed, accessible spaces.

Service providers can make disaster services safer and more accessible by focusing on practical barriers, survivor safety, and trans-inclusive practices.

Key steps include:

Avoid unnecessary gender-segregation in services.
Reduce documentation and identification barriers. (Don’t require ID)
Plan outreach for people who cannot travel to larger locations for relief services.
Include trans people in outreach messages.
Train all staff and volunteers to interact respectfully with trans folks.
Provide clothing, hygiene supplies, and other resources in a range of styles and sizes.
Support people to choose any clothing and wear what they want.

Planning and Partnerships

All organizations can benefit from having disaster plans. Many agencies can also strengthen their plans by partnering with local emergency preparedness organizations to help ensure that all community members are considered in planning.

For example, domestic and sexual violence programs can assess their own services while also working with local emergency preparedness agencies to bring attention to the needs of survivors and trans communities. These partnerships can help disaster systems better identify safety risks, reduce barriers, and plan for inclusive access before a crisis occurs.

Building Inclusive Coalitions

Stronger disaster preparedness and response require collaboration across sectors. By building broad coalitions and learning from each other, climate justice, domestic and sexual violence, local government and infrastructure, and trans/nonbinary groups can create more inclusive and useful disaster preparedness and response. Climate justice groups are also often already working to prepare communities for increasing disasters through activism as well as supporting local infrastructure and resiliency projects.

Supporting Flexible and Accessible Services

Disaster relief organizations can also support trans/nonbinary survivors of crime by offering flexible services that respond to people’s actual needs, experiences, and circumstances. Lowering barriers to support can make a substantial difference for trans folks.

Helpful strategies include:

Providing ways to access resources that are not gender-segregated.
Reducing or eliminating identification requirements where possible.
Offering outreach to communities and areas that cannot easily travel to centralized relief sites.
Including trans people in outreach materials and public messaging.
Training staff to interact respectfully with trans/nonbinary people.
Offering a wide range of clothing options, styles, and sizes, and supporting people in choosing clothing that fits their needs and identity.

Building Relationships with Local Communities

Disaster organizations can improve preparedness and response by building strong relationships with local organizations and communities before disasters occur. To work effectively together, individuals and organizations will need to:

Recognize and address past harms.
Build trust with trans/nonbinary communities, including survivors of violence.
Listen to and learn from each other.
Seek to understand the unique needs and perspectives of trans/nonbinary communities and survivors.
Educate themselves and each other about community’s experiences, concerns, strengths, and perceptions.
Include staff, volunteers, and trans survivors in all stages of planning.
Conduct outreach to underrepresented and excluded communities

Organizational Responses

Organizations can strengthen disaster preparedness and response by taking concrete steps to make services safer and more inclusive. Effective organizational responses include:

Training first responders, shelter workers, and others disaster response staff on trans/nonbinary communities and the needs of survivors of violence.
Providing staff with guidance on de-escalation, violence prevention, responding to disclosures of violence, and trans inclusive service delivery.
Including LGBTQ+ people and priorities on emergency management teams.
Developing multiple ways to share information, recognizing that many people may not have internet access and that intimate partner violence can affect access to communication
Integrating gender equity and violence prevention into disaster preparedness and response globally. Learn more at: https://www.preventionweb.net/news/mitigating-gender-based-violence-risks-how-anticipatory-action-supports-safety-and-access

Disaster Shelter Practices

Disaster shelters can reduce risks and improve access by building privacy, flexibility, and respect into their operations. Shelters should:

Use forms that reflect each person’s name and gender, and not relying only on what appears on identity documents.
Ask what information can and can’t be shared.
Create ways to check in with people individually and privately.
Support choice in sleeping arrangements.
Create privacy for small groups, families, and individuals without relying on strict gender segregation.
Post clear signs stating that harassment in bathrooms and other shared spaces is not allowed.
Provide all-gender or gender-neutral bathrooms.
Consider the impact of publicly played television or other media, especially when programming may increase fear or hostility towards trans people (such as Fox News).
Identify staff or volunteers additional training who can assist with safety needs at disaster shelters.
Provide private spaces where survivors can work with advocates.

Specific Examples of Increased Domestic Violence

Australia: NPR coverage of disaster, violence, and public health impacts.
California Wildfires: Reporting on evacuation planning, emergency supplies, and domestic violence awareness. Climate Change and domestic violence: Research and reporting on how climate-related disasters can increase risk.
Hurricane Maria and Puerto Rico: Analysis of how hurricanes compounded violence for vulnerable communities.

An overall review :

One reviewed resource summarizes domestic violence and disasters with supporting sources.

Following hurricane Katrina, members of the transgender community reported discrimination from both fellow shelter inhabitants but also from shelter staff. D’Ooge, C. (2008). Queer Katrina: Gender and sexual orientation matter in the aftermath of a disaster. Newcomb college center for research on women. New Orleans, LA: Tulane University, pp. 22-24.

Domestic violence emergency preparedness toolkit: NNEDV’s Emergency Preparedness Toolkit offers planning guidance for domestic violence organizations preparing for disasters, service disruptions, and survivor safety needs.

Emergency preparedness toolkit for domestic and sexual violence programs: CPEDV’s Emergency Preparedness Toolkit provides practical planning tools for agencies serving survivors before, during, and after emergencies.

Sexual violence in disasters: NSVRC’s Sexual Violence in Disasters resource summarizes how disasters can increase sexual violence risk and offers considerations for prevention and response.

Meeting the needs of trans evacuees: Meeting the Needs of Trans People in Disaster Situations outlines practical steps for making disaster services safer and more accessible for transgender evacuees.

Overview

Trans Specific Dynamics

Key Tips for Service Providers

Statistics

Resources