Exploring complexities of disaster risk and vulnerability: Everyday lives of two flood‐affected communities in Sri Lanka

Abstract

AbstractTwo riverside communities in Kolonnawa, Colombo district, and Thawalama, Galle district, of Sri Lanka are flood‐prone communities that, not only have experiences of flood disasters of different scales, but also face a number of disaster risks and vulnerabilities intertwined in their everyday lives. Using a mixed methods approach, the article draws on household surveys, in‐depth interviews and focus group discussions with flood‐affected people, and on semi‐structured interviews with community leaders in the two‐flood‐prone‐communities. The article critically explores how the understanding of disaster risks and vulnerabilities is overly focused on “incapacities,” “weaknesses,” and “victimization” of affected people, and emphasizes that vulnerability should not be treated as an antonym of community resilience. The article argues how community resilience still exists within vulnerable communities and it highlights the need for developing a more holistic approach to understand the vulnerability paradigm and better disentangle the complexity of vulnerability and disaster risk in local contexts.