The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Bhutan is taking concrete steps to ensure that persons with disabilities are protected and supported during climate-related emergencies. These emergencies include floods, landslides, and glacial lake outburst floods.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, disability considerations are increasingly being incorporated into disaster risk assessments. These needs are also being built into early warning mechanisms, evacuation plans, and community response arrangements across the country.
Speaking at the 32nd Meet-the-Press session, the ministry outlined how the Department of Local Governance and Disaster Management is working to strengthen inclusive preparedness at the grassroots level. These efforts rely on community hazard mapping, local vulnerability assessments, Community Disaster Management Plans, and designated Community Response Teams.
The initiatives aim to identify individuals who cannot receive standard warnings or evacuate independently. The government is working to ensure that tailored support is available for different types of disabilities.
For hearing disabilities, visual or direct warnings are provided alongside general sirens. For visual disabilities, responders provide guided physical evacuation assistance. For mobility disabilities, officials arrange pre-identified assistance and appropriate transportation. For cognitive, communication, or self-care difficulties, direct support comes from caregivers or trained emergency responders.
Recent field implementation highlights this approach. In 2026, the Department of Local Governance and Disaster Management carried out community-based disaster risk management programs in Gasa. These programs established evacuation maps and formed local response teams.
More recently, in September 2026, the department teamed up with the Punakha Dzongkhag Administration and the Bhutan Red Cross Society. Together, they conducted GLOF preparedness activities across vulnerable communities in Punakha and Wangdue Phodrang. A major simulation exercise held at Punakha Dzong on September 11, 2026, directly tested warning systems, evacuation routes, communication networks, and emergency coordination.
Data Linkages and Key Challenges
Data from the National Health Survey 2023 shows a national disability prevalence rate of 6.8 percent in Bhutan. This figure covers vision, hearing, mobility, self-care, cognition, and communication difficulties.
Disability rates vary widely across different dzongkhags. Wangdue Phodrang recorded a rate of 13.3 percent. Zhemgang recorded 12.0 percent. Lhuentse recorded 11.9 percent. Dagana recorded 11.2 percent.
Despite these statistics, officials noted that there is currently no single verified figure showing exactly how many persons with disabilities live directly within mapped GLOF, flood, or landslide hazard zones. Officials stated that providing an unverified estimate would be inappropriate. Disability data must first be fully overlaid with spatial hazard maps. The government is currently working to close this gap to refine local emergency plans.
The government’s overarching measures are further backed by Bhutan’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2024. This agreement mandates the continued mainstreaming of disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction in partnership with persons with disabilities and their representative organizations.
