Disaster resilience of traditional societies from Small Island Developing States: The 2015 tropical cyclone Pam in Vanuatu

Abstract

This paper investigates the resilience of traditional societies from Small Island Developing States in the face of disaster. It focuses on tropical cyclone Pam that impacted Vanuatu in 2015. Drawing upon focus group discussions using participatory tools in disaster-affected villages between 2015 and 2017, it examines both the recovery challenges faced and mechanisms developed by traditional societies from Tanna Island post-disaster. The study emphasizes that traditional societies’ resilience goes beyond absorbing and recovering from a large event but also relates to recurrent small-scale hazards. The paper further highlights traditional societies’ capacities in the face of disaster and stresses the need to strengthen or reintroduce traditional practices while supporting newly adopted mechanisms such as transnational kinship networks and remittances. It also points out the role of external aid intervention post-disaster that, if top-down and delivered disproportionally can compete with local initiatives and have negative effects on traditional societies’ resilience. The paper concludes that traditional societies should themselves define and assess their own resilience and ways to strengthen it.