隨著都市的過度開發以及人口密度的提升，導致災害的發生率不斷增加，加以台灣位於地震帶上，夏日季節又常受颱風侵襲，使台灣的災害發生率較高，而面臨災害的發生，高齡者之脆弱度相對高出許多，因此，如何協助高齡者於災害來臨時能安全避難已是刻不容緩的課題。台灣面臨高齡化和少子化的衝擊，使高齡者的照護需求增加，由逐年增加的照護機構數量即可證明。另一方面，極端氣候變遷對台灣許多地區造成嚴重災害，因此，對於更具體的防災規劃需求已形成高度共識；國際間的相關研究發表，在1999~2009十年間，對於高齡者的防災應變僅提出32篇期刊論文，針對老人福利與照護機構的防災力與設置空間區位分佈之基礎研究更屬罕見。在民國89年的象神颱風導致基隆一護理之家的多位高齡者溺斃事件後，民國98年和99年又陸續出現相關報導，顯示台灣照護機構已受到災害的強大威脅，因此本研究擬以全台灣的老人福利與照護機構為研究對象，分別進行基礎研究，逐步探討各機構設置區位、災害潛勢之區位相關風險影響因子等之關聯，試圖探索機構之空間分佈與災害之關係，並因應在地老化之概念，提出建立機構社區型防災網絡系統，協助機構社區化並提升其防災力之建議，以供未來防救災單位之參考。

With the process of urbanization, consequences like over-development and increasing population density in the built environment often results in higher casualty of disasters. Moreover, locating at the Circum-Pacific Seismic Zone with frequent strike of typhoons every summer, Taiwan is destined to encounter more disasters. Ageing population, meanwhile, is considered as the most vulnerable population cohort when disaster happens. With the speedy ageing phenomenon, demands for long-term care services increase accordingly. Numbers of nursing homes and day-care facilities in Taiwan has increased tremendously in the past decade along with the disasters happening due to the climate changes. It is the consensus to establish a more comprehensive disaster-prevention planning system for older people and related facilities. However, from 1999 to 2009, only 32 international journal papers published focusing on issues of older people and disasters. Researches discussing the relationship between land use plan of nursing homes and day-care facilities and disasters were even rare. With the increasing casualty reports of older people in nursing homes locating at high-risk areas/ rural/mountain areas, it is inevitable that researchers from spatial planning and land use control perspective should respond to this increasing threat and cooperate with public health system in order to enhance the survival chances of older people under disasters. Hence, this research will take all nursing homes and day-care facilities as research targets. We will first analyze the development history of nursing facilities by collecting data dated back to 1980s. Then, we will map the location data of nursing facilities with different disaster potential data by using GIS to further identify different degrees of risk of existing facilities. It is expected to identify the pattern of current location choices of nursing homes in Taiwan and its correlations with different types of disasters such as flooding, landslide and earthquake. Further, we would like to explore the possibility of creating a comprehensive community disaster contingency system by introducing the idea of “facility localization” and “ageing-in-place”. Instead moving older population away from disaster, this system will embrace the fact that 80 percent of areas in Taiwan are with medium to high risk of disaster and intend to connect urban planning and public health resources to establish a community-based local disaster contingency system in order to respond to a super aged society by 2060.