Reviewing the place of migrants in disasters: a personal perspective

Abstract

PurposeThe paper aims to call attention to issues that may be missing or taken for granted in discourses on migrants and disasters by applying the author’s viewpoint to reflect on gaps and potentials for disaster risk reduction.Design/methodology/approachThe author discusses key issues based on reflective engagement with selected secondary documentation in the form of grey and scholarly literature. Personal perspectives are engaged to develop arguments on intersections that are relevant to the migrant situation in different frameworks in disaster studies.FindingsWhile migrants are considered significant stakeholders in key global agreements on disaster and migration, encounters with disaster literature from a more localised level reveal how references to the migrant sector can be omitted or racialised. This gap can be filled by searching for documentation of migrant strengths and vulnerabilities. However, further reflection demonstrates how adopting broader perspectives can reveal these strengths and vulnerabilities as part of more appropriate and sustainable disaster risk reduction strategies. The paper also shows how such reflections can be led by insights from migrants themselves, not as subjects to be managed but as agents of their own change.Originality/valueThe paper is distinctive because it shows aspects of migrant strengths and disadvantages from a personal viewpoint. It amplifies less-heard perspectives on a conceptual level as well as in actual practice.