(Un)just post-disaster mobilities in small island developing states: Revisiting the patterns and outcomes of three major environmental disasters in the Caribbean

Abstract

Research on post-disaster mobilities in small island developing states has largely offered global-level analyses, and if regional, mostly focused on the Pacific. This article helps fill this gap by offering a Caribbean perspective on environmental risk and response—it uses de Haas' [1] aspirations-capabilities framework to revisit the mobility patterns and outcomes of three large-scale geological and hydro-meteorological disasters, representing the two most prevalent hazard types in the region. It draws on secondary sources to qualitatively contextualize the structural factors that affected mobilities following the eruption of the Soufriére Hills volcano in Montserrat in 1995, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti in 2010, and the passage of Hurricane Irma across Barbuda in 2017. It generates disaster- and region-specific results, and finds several factors that exacerbate inequalities at the individual and household levels, including the nature of the country's historical relationship with receiving States, and a reliance on ad hoc disaster responses by foreign actors. In concluding, the article proposes three policy foci for facilitating more just post-disaster mobilities in the region. These center the need for more coordinated mobility governance, including the strengthening of regional and international legal frameworks to protect those forced to leave their homes.