Preparing for disaster in San Francisco Chinatown: A community assessment of organizations addressing the vulnerabilities of seniors

There is a high likelihood that a major earthquake will hit the San Francisco Bay Area in the next 30 years, and San Francisco's Chinatown has been identified as one of the most high-risk neighborhoods. One of the most vulnerable populations living in Chinatown is seniors who comprise 22% of this community's population. These seniors will rely heavily on community-based organizations (CBOs) for their most basic services when disaster strikes; however, most CBOs are ill-equipped to meet this need. We conducted a community assessment of the needs and capacity for disaster preparedness and response among San Francisco Chinatown organizations that would provide critical services to seniors during a disaster. Seventeen Chinatown CBOs were included. We conducted in-depth interviews with 12 CBO executive directors and held three focus groups with 24 front-line staff. Three main findings emerged: (1) San Francisco Chinatown CBOs recognize the importance of having a disaster plan, however many either do not have a plan or do not think their plan is complete. (2) There are gaps between how E.Ds feel fairly well organized for disaster, while front line staff reported feeling left out of the planning, and unsure of the level of preparedness of their organizations. (3) CBOs do not feel prepared to meet their clients' needs in the event of a disaster, especially in regards to seniors' medication needs. This presentation is an overview of the process of our assessment and our findings and recommendations to improve health outcomes for Chinatown seniors in disaster scenarios.