​Chair

Chris Roles - Director of Age International

Speakers

Silvia Stefanoni - Direct of Policy and Strategy, HelpAge International

Tom Mitchell - Head of Climate and Environment, ODI

Chris Roles, Director of Age International, opened the discussion with the figures on our increasingly ageing world – two billion older people by 2050. This growing demographic is particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, which policy makers tend to overlook. Chris emphasised that new policies aiming to build resilience and reduce risk must be age-inclusive.

HelpAge International’s Director of Policy and Strategy, Silvia Stefanoni, introduced the themes and findings of Disaster resilience in an ageing world. Although older people can make important contributions and take an active role in responding to disasters, she argued, this is rarely recognised in disaster response or resilience systems.

Head of Climate and Environment at ODI, Tom Mitchell, spoke about disaster response and resilience more broadly. Recognising the lack of reliable data as a major problem when it comes to measuring progress, he advocated for better sharing of data, more nuanced indicators, capacity building in data collection – and, crucially, disaggregated data before a disaster occurs.