Intersectional vulnerability in post-disaster contexts: lived experiences of Dalit women after the Nepal earthquake, 2015.

Abstract

Through a narrative-based ethnographic study of the Nepal earthquake of 2015, this study aims to comprehend Nepali women's experiences of relief and rehabilitation. It adopts an intersectional approach to vulnerability and privileges the voices of marginalised women in post-disaster contexts. The paper draws out some troubling experiences, including stories of rampant alcoholism, drug abuse, illegal trafficking, prostitution, self-harm, and suicide. These cases are more pronounced among Dalit women, who also face institutionalised violence in the form of unequal access to aid, dignity kits, and safe spaces, among other resources. Such discrimination makes Dalit women from poor socioeconomic backgrounds more vulnerable in post-disaster settings. In the case of Nepal, relief and rehabilitation processes failed to understand and address intersectional vulnerability, and in some ways, became part of the problem. By examining the accounts of women from different castes and classes, this paper argues, therefore, for an intersectional approach to investigating vulnerability in the wake of disasters.