Disaster-affected Communities Research Articles

Post-Traumatic Growth Following Exposure to Memorial Reports of the 5.12 Wenchuan Earthquake: The Moderating Roles of Self-Esteem and Long-Term PTSD Symptoms.

Media exposure during a traumatic event has been found to be associated with negative psychological consequences. However, the post-disaster role of the mass media and the possible positive psychological consequences of media exposure has received less attention. In the present study, we hypothesized that exposure to memorial media reports would lead to improved post-traumatic growth (PTG). Further, we evaluated the moderating role of self-esteem and long-term post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in the relationship between media exposure and PTG. Using a cross-sectional design, we surveyed individuals (N = 1000, mean age = 45.62, 43.5% male) who were recruited from disaster-affected communities ten years after the 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake which was the largest country-level trauma in the past three decades. Results revealed that individuals with lower self-esteem or lower PTSD symptoms would have higher psychological growth with greater exposure to memorial news reports. For individuals who reported having both high levels of self-esteem and PTSD symptoms, the relationship between media exposure and PTG was negative. These findings help present trauma in a new light, particularly regarding the rapid and instantaneous new coverage of the digital age. This study also has multi-disciplinary, cross-cultural, and clinical implications for the fields of psychology, public health, and communications.

Housing, water and sanitation implications on food insecurity and diet diversity in landslide affected communities: A cross-sectional survey of two districts in Uganda

The major landslide of 2010 in Bududa district in Eastern Uganda is the most catastrophic natural disaster in Uganda's recorded history. An estimated 350 people died and some of the affected were resettled in Kiryandongo district. We assessed housing, water and sanitation practises of affected households and controls to establish possible implications on food insecurity and diet diversity. This cross-sectional study assessed 1078 affected and control households in Bududa and Kiryandongo districts. The head of the households were either affected, selected from landslide disaster-affected communities, or controls from a random sub-county bordering the affected. Structured interviews were used and entries were tested statistically to report crude estimates based on the Pearson x2 and ANOVA, while adjusted analysis used multivariate analysis of co-variance (MANCOVA) and Wald's Odds Ratio (OR) of Binary Logistic Regression at the 95% CI. On adjusting for the disaster and covariates, households who had insufficient access to water scored higher mean (SE) on food insecurity than those who reported sufficient access: 13.1 (0.4) vs. 9.5 (0.3) (P<0.01). Intriguingly, households who owned a toilet and those who reported always using soap to wash hands scored higher food insecurity than their counterparts: 11.1 (0.3) vs. 9.0 (0.6) (P<0.01) and 11.3 (0.3) vs. 9.1 (0.5) (P<0.01), respectively. However, not owning a toilet increased the likelihood of being food insecure (OR 3.43; 95% CI 1.31, 8.97; P=0.02). In Kiryandongo, affected households scored higher food insecurity than controls: 9.5 (0.5) vs. 5.4 (0.5) (P<0.01) and higher diet diversity scores (DDS): 6.7 (0.2) vs. 6.2 (0.2) (P=0.04). Type of housing also predicted food insecurity (P<0.01) and DDS (P=0.03). Like Bududa, households with insufficient water access scored higher food insecurity while those owning toilet scored higher DDS. Uniquely, only number of rooms was linked to a high likelihood of being food insecure (OR 1.60; 95% CI 1.19, 2.15; P<0.05). Disaster, food security and diet were sensitive to housing, water and sanitation and were integral to an adequate standard of living of victims of this landslide.

Learning from The Legacy of Post-Disaster Recovery in Indonesia for The Acceleration of Post-Disaster Recovery in Lombok

As a country known for its very disaster-prone areas, Indonesia has experienced frequent disasters, either large, medium and small-scale ones, which even in the last six months have had at least a fairly large-scale natural disaster, one of which is an earthquake occurred in Lombok in late July to mid-August 2018. Learning from the experiences of post-disasters management that have occurred before, especially after the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Aceh and Nias in 2004, the earthquake in Yogyakarta in 2006, the earthquake in West Sumatra in 2009, and eruption of Mount Merapi in 2010, the post-disaster recovery process needs to be carried out in an integrated and comprehensive manner, by involving participation of stakeholders at the national and regional levels, not only the central government, local governments and other government partners. In relation to the post-earthquake recovery efforts in Lombok in 2018 which affected seven districts/cities in NTB Province which resulted in recovery needs of more than Rp. 11 trillion, despite the issuance of the Presidential Instruction policy framework Number 5 of 2018 on the Acceleration of Post-Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in NTB Province, which assigns relevant ministries/agencies and Governor and Regents and Mayors whose areas are affected in NTB Province, to be able to accelerate the process of recovering local conditions and disaster-affected communities in the affected NTB region, which for implementation still requires operational policies and strategies in the field. For this reason, some best-practices in managing the recovery process from previous disasters can be used as input in establishing appropriate and applicable policies and strategies in order to accelerate the rehabilitation and reconstruction of post-disaster areas in Lombok further, to realize a recovery to rebuild a better one, safer and more sustainable.

How Development Affects News Media Coverage of Earthquakes: Implications for Disaster Risk Reduction in Observing Communities

Previous research suggests that lesson-drawing news coverage of disasters can create windows of opportunity for policy learning in the observing communities. This is especially important for cities facing similar vulnerabilities to disaster-affected communities, where they can learn from their events to pursue disaster risk reduction policies to mitigate against those risks at home. However, little is known about the conditions under which newspapers in at-risk communities provide the type of news coverage necessary for policy learning. Using logistic regression to analyze an original dataset produced from a content analysis of five newspapers’ coverage of five earthquakes, we demonstrate that the level of development of the disaster-stricken community systematically influences the nature of news coverage in at-risk communities. These results have important implications for the understanding of urban disaster risk reduction, suggesting that the conditions for bottom-up policy learning are more likely to occur following disasters in wealthier countries.

Post-Serial Earthquakes Health Problems in Lombok, Indonesia: Experience of 'Ksatria Airlangga' Floating Hospital [Profil Masalah Kesehatan Pasca Gempa Serial di Lombok, Indonesia: Pengalaman Rumah Sakit Terapung Ksatria Airlangga

Predictions regarding damaged land access by a serial earthquake in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara in 2018, was the background of the Rumah Sakit Terapung Ksatria Airlangga (RSTKA), being sent. RSTKA is phinisi ship with an operating theatre and other healthcare facilities. The earthquake was not accompanied by a tsunami, so the dock was suitable to be used for leaning. The study analyzes patient data in RSTKA, and as an evaluation of field hospitals. This study used observational descriptive design. Obtained 1601 patients with disease distribution classified as trauma and non-trauma. A number of patients who came to RSTKA were volatile. The number of cases recorded was more than the number of patients because some patients had more than one health problem. Trauma cases recorded 121 cases (6.7%) while non-trauma 1679 cases (93.3%). Non-trauma cases have increased rapidly since the fourth day. The trauma case was dominated by soft tissue injury 57.02%. Non-trauma cases were dominated by non-infectious diseases with 919 cases (54.8%) and 760 cases of infection (45.2%). Infectious diseases were dominated by respiratory infections (437 cases) followed by gastrointestinal infections (239 cases). Humanity mission of RSTKA has succeeded in making meaningful contributions to disaster-affected communities in Lombok, especially in North Lombok District.

In Times of Chaos: Creating Blueprints for Law School Responses to Natural Disasters

A recent onslaught of domestic natural disasters created acute, critical needs for legal services for people displaced and harmed by storms and fires. In 2017, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and Michael struck much of Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico, displacing millions from their homes. Wildfires burned throughout California and tested the capacity of pro bono and legal aid systems across the state. In 2018, Hurricane Florence flooded North Carolina, and Hurricane Michael devastated the Florida Panhandle. California again suffered wildfires, the largest and most devastating in recorded history. Natural disasters are both more common and more destructive, the “new abnormal.” Social and economic inequities emerge sharply after each natural disaster. Low-income and vulnerable people both suffer more from disasters and experience heightened barriers to accessing the post-disaster resources necessary to survive, rebuild, and return home. Marginalized and vulnerable populations, in particular, need legal assistance and expertise to overcome these barriers. Natural disasters also inspire law students, law clinics, law schools and law faculty to help. Law school responses to assisting with post-disaster legal needs have been diverse. Some efforts have been law student initiated, while several law school clinics have provided legal assistance in a variety of ways. Some law schools have launched clinics with a devoted budget and strict focus on disaster practice. Some took on disaster work because it was the greatest need for existing clients and communities. Others shifted the focus of existing clinics to disaster needs, and still others launched temporary clinics in various forms to respond to acute crises. Some wanted to help but did not have ready relationships or resources to be responsive. Each of the authors has direct experience surviving natural disasters and providing legal assistance from within the academy. This article provides necessary information about the nature of natural disasters, the ecosystem of response systems, and common legal issues for law schools and clinical programs interested in providing legal assistance to disaster-affected communities. It then describes varying models of law school institutional responses to increasingly common natural disasters. Building on lessons learned through these experiences, law schools can develop a blueprint for community-engaged disaster response. Building a framework for institutional responses in the legal academy can advance and improve access to justice for vulnerable communities recovering after a disaster and can provide students with an opportunity to learn from this social justice engagement.

Integrating Historic Preservation into Post-Disaster Recovery: The Role of the Main Street Program

Historic preservation is an important part of community resilience to natural hazards. In the aftermath of disasters, however, preservationists sometimes struggle to find the resources or support necessary to repair or protect historic resources. Disaster-affected communities in the United States have used the Main Street Program to help guide their recovery efforts, with positive outcomes for historic preservation. In this paper we use an explanatory case study research design to analyze three communities that have used Main Street during post-disaster recovery: Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Waterbury, Vermont; and Lyons, Colorado. We find that the Main Street Program has helped preservationists overcome common barriers to recovery by (1) bringing together diverse stakeholders with an interest in historic resources; (2) leveraging the strengths of pre-disaster networks and relationships; and (3) linking the restoration and protection of historic resources to economic recovery and revitalization. The use of the Main Street Program is an example of a successful collaborative governance approach to disaster recovery, which has important implications for heritage professionals and urban planners globally. While limited in their breadth and areas of focus, these cases show that the Main Street Program has been a unique tool for post-disaster community recovery.

From Temporary to Permanent; A Circular Approach for Post-disaster Housing Reconstruction

Housing crisis is an evitable outcome of most of post-disaster scenarios due to the massive destruction they usually produce. Therefore, the reconstruction process and particularly in terms of housing is considered as an evident prerequisite in handling disasters’ aftermaths. Temporary accommodation alternatives have been widely assumed in a variety of post-disasters cases as a primary step of the reconstruction process. Yet despite this fact, they have been broadly criticized for being unsustainable and resource-consuming. This matter can negatively affect the recovery process of the disaster-affected communities at different levels. Those effects can be even more serious when hitting developing countries, turning them more vulnerable. Still, there is an insistent need to find a rapid action to accommodate the disaster-affected people following their displacement while reconstructing their permanent homes. This paper proposes an incremental housing strategy which could form a key part of a proactive strategy that has not been offered by conventional methods. It provides time-efficient housing construction approaches while responding to the immediate large-scale interventions. Likewise, it bridges over the two phases of temporary and permanent housing in one integral transformable process that relies on efficiency and adaptability. The paper also discusses the sustainability aspects of executing the incremental strategy and examines its qualitative outcomes that contribute to a circular built environment in disaster-disrupted communities.

Community participation framework for post-disaster resettlement and its practical application in Pakistan

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a practical framework for community participation in post-disaster resettlement.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed framework has been tested in two model villages (MVs) of Punjab, Pakistan. Primary data were collected through household surveys, focus group discussions and expert interviews. A survey with 67 households was conducted for obtaining qualitative data regarding community participation in post-disaster resettlement.FindingsThe first MV (Ittehad MV) was resettled by the local NGO, and the second (Basti Meera Mullan) by the provincial government. Results indicate that community participation significantly varied in selected MVs. NGOs have achieved positive realizations due to effective community involvement in resettlement efforts, whereas the governmental approach lacked in proactive community participation.Practical implicationsThis framework can be used for other disasters, by refining and incorporating disaster relevant components. This research will be highly useful for disaster managers, private developers and NGOs engaged in resettling disaster-affected population.Social implicationsThe proposed framework can help disaster-affected communities to resettle according to their terms. This can only be attained if affected communities will proactively participate in resettlement planning process.Originality/valueThis original framework is exclusively designed to attain sustainability for post-disaster settlement through community participation.

Leveraging Community Partnerships to Advance Disaster Research Response: A Qualitative Analysis

In response to concerns about increasing disasters, the NIH created the Disaster Research Response Program (DR2) as &amp;#8220;the national framework for research on the medical and public health aspects of disasters and public health emergencies.&amp;#8221; We sought to identify perceived facilitators and barriers to community engagement (CE) in DR2 and examine how existing community partnerships can be leveraged to facilitate timely and effective DR2. We conducted key informant interviews with 15 National Institute of Environmental Health Science Environmental Health Science Centers Community Engagement Core (CEC) Directors. Interviews elicited information about current community partnerships and familiarity and experience with DR2. We also explored the possibility of developing a CE response team that could be rapidly deployed to disaster-affected communities to facilitate translational research and CE activities.Interview notes were inductively coded and qualitatively analyzed. Common barriers to CE in DR2 included lack of DR2 experience, complexity of coordinating multiple external research groups, issues related to rapid IRB approval or IRB coordination across institutions, perceived detrimental impacts to well-developed community relationships, and varying expectations and priorities among community groups and researchers. The importance of established working relationships with communities before a disaster occurs was a recurrent theme and emphasizes the important role that CECs and practice-based connections play in DR2. A DR2 CE response team was identified as an opportunity worthy of further exploration.The results of this study will help inform the NIH DR2 program and provide information on how to best quickly and effectively engage community partners when conducting DR2.

Recovering local sociality: Learnings from post-disaster community-scale recoveries

Local sociality, which is local people's everyday lives in and with their community, influences recovery in disaster-affected communities. This paper examines recovery in four disaster-impacted communities. In the two Australian examples rural communities were impacted by the 2011 Queensland floods. The two Japanese communities discussed suffered in the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and, in one case, from radiation contamination arising from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. We argue that local sociality is often poorly understood by external parties such as disaster recovery experts and agencies. The Japanese planning concept of machizukuri – literally “creating communities” – incorporates physical, structural and social aspects in urban planning practices and was successfully applied to recovery processes in one of the Japanese cases. Drawing on that case, the paper concludes that machizukuri offers a valuable tool to foster better consideration of local sociality – both pre- and post-disaster – as an intrinsic component of communities’ vulnerability and resilience.

From disaster to devastation: drought as war in northern Uganda.

This paper proposes a shift from the concept of disaster to one of devastation when dealing with the destructive consequences of climate change. It argues that today, a discourse of climate-change disaster has become dominant, in which present disasters are seen as harbingers of a future of widespread climate disaster, products of a global nature in upheaval. The paper contends that one needs to go beyond the series of dichotomies that the climate-change disaster discourse relies upon: future/past, global/local, natural/social. To frame climate disaster as a product of global climate change, and conflict the product of those climate disasters, is to occlude the forms of environmental violence and experience of climate change among disaster-affected communities. Through an exploration of the drought in Uganda, the paper asserts that disaster should be understood as embedded within ongoing, longstanding, multiscalar processes of devastation produced by histories of human engagement with the environment, including that of war.

Rebuilding Lives and Communities Postdisaster: A Case Study on Migrant Workers and Diversity in the USA

ABSTRACTThere is a need to better understand long-term disaster recovery and reconstruction challenges in diverse communities. This case study was part of a larger study undertaken by the Rebuilding Lives Post-Disaster research partnership, where field research was conducted in disaster-affected communities in Canada, the USA, Australia, India, Pakistan, and Taiwan. The objective of this exploratory case study was to focus on experiences of affected migrant workers from diverse communities in Florida, USA, in relation to long-term disaster recovery and reconstruction work following hurricanes, to ensure that lessons learned from these experiences could inform best practices and policy. The study focused particularly on the role of community processes and dynamics in shaping postdisaster recovery. Qualitative research explored diverse experiences of participants through interviews with government officials, community leaders, and disaster responders. The study found that migrant workers faced challenges due to the lack of consideration with regard to immigration status, linguistic, and cultural needs in disaster recovery.IMPLICATIONSDisaster recovery processes need to consider the diversity of affected populations to ensure assistance and responses meet the differing needs of all community members in postdisaster recovery.All members of diverse communities should be included in disaster response and longer-term recovery efforts.Social workers can assist in ensuring that diversity is a consideration in disaster and emergency management.

Paradise Found? the Emergence of Social Capital, Place Attachment, and Civic Engagement after Disaster

Social science research on disaster-affected communities uses social capital to explain a variety of post-disaster outcomes. A promising recent line of inquiry looks at how disasters generate new forms of social capital, and reinvigorate place-based social networks and place attachment. Using survey data collected from 407 Calgary residents affected by the catastrophic 2013 Southern Alberta Flood, as well as interview data from 40 residents, this article examines factors that contributed to residents’ expansion of their social networks during the disaster, and the impact of expanded social networks on residents’ post-disaster place attachment and civic engagement. Findings reveal that people most affected by the flood, i.e., those who experienced house flooding and longer evacuations, were most likely to make new contacts during the disaster and immediately after it. However, results also indicate that these new forms of social capital did not translate into greater place attachment, even though they did engender some post-flood civic engagement. Overall, inundation, evacuation, and displacement are predictive of lesser post-disaster place attachment. The article concludes by discussing the relevance of the findings for theory and disaster scholarship.

Fugitive Chemicals and Environmental Justice: A Model for Environmental Monitoring Following Climate-Related Disasters.

The combination of population growth in areas of mixed (residential, commercial, and industrial) land use along U.S. waterfronts and the increasing frequency of devastating hurricanes and storm surges has led to community fears of widespread toxic chemical contamination resulting from accidental industrial or small business releases, particularly in the aftermath of an extreme weather event, such as a hurricane. Industrial waterfront communities, which are frequently environmental justice communities, contain numerous toxic chemical sources located in close proximity to residential housing, schools, daycare centers, playgrounds, and healthcare centers. Despite the longstanding concerns of community activists and researchers about the potential for “fugitive” chemicals to be released into floodwaters, there has been little coordinated research or action to develop environmental monitoring programs for disaster-affected communities. In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, a community-academic partnership was formed between the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, UPROSE, The LifeLine Group, and the RAND Corporation. The collaboration, known as Grassroots Research to Action in Sunset Park (GRASP) has focused on identifying possible sources of chemical contamination, modeling the potential for chemical release into community areas and resulting exposure risks, and proactively developing actions for mitigating or preventing adverse community impacts. Through our ongoing work, we have identified barriers and drivers for community-based environmental monitoring, and in doing so, we have developed a framework to overcome challenges. In this article, we describe this framework, which can be used by waterfront communities bracing to deal with the effects of future devastating weather disasters.

Cultural otherness and disaster news: The influence of western discourses on Japan in US and UK news coverage of the 2011 Great East Japan Disaster

The Great East Japan Disaster of 2011 provides an important case study to evaluate how western media cover Japan. Employing a critical discourse analysis of coverage in The New York Times, The Guardian and The Observer this article seeks to examine how Japan and the disaster-affected communities of Tohoku were represented through the context of this disaster. The analysis revealed the presence of a cultural framework, enacted during the response phase of the disaster news cycle to explain how people in Japan were coping in the aftermath of the disaster, which was premised on a discourse of cultural otherness. The textual elements that underwrote this discourse included a tendency to draw on stereotypes and in the way culture was employed to provide context to individual stories. The analysis also acknowledges how forms of bias circulated through other discourses, in particular when covering the nuclear crisis at Fukushima. The article argues that this discourse of cultural otherness is, in part, attributable to the features of disaster journalism, rather than a lack of familiarity on the part of journalists with the cultural context.

Sustainable livelihoods and effectiveness of disaster responses: a case study of tropical cyclone Pam in Vanuatu

Category 5 tropical cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu in March 2015, affecting thousands of people. Three months after the event, this study compared the responses from both external aid agencies and the disaster-affected communities to identify convergences, duplications and gaps. The research relies on 13 interviews with aid agencies and eight focus group discussions with participatory activities at local community level. While aid agencies actively responded during and after Pam, local people too responded to the event with strategies based on livelihoods diversification, food security techniques, traditional knowledge and cooperation intra- and inter-communities. The study emphasizes the need for an integrative approach where disaster responses from the top-down integrate that from the bottom-up. Aid agencies should build on the livelihood mechanisms developed at local level so responses and recovery can be more effective, socioculturally acceptable and may lead to sustainable outcomes of disaster risk reduction including climate change adaptation.

Taking the Square: Mediated Dissent and Occupation of Public Space ed. by Maria Rovisco and Jonathan Corpus Ong

Reviewed by: Taking the Square: Mediated Dissent and Occupation of Public Space ed. by Maria Rovisco and Jonathan Corpus Ong Ma. Diosa Labiste MARIA ROVISCO AND JONATHAN CORPUS ONG, EDS. Taking the Square: Mediated Dissent and Occupation of Public Space London and New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2016. 244 pages. Taking the Square: Mediated Dissent and Occupation of Public Space joins the conversation on how to think about the public sphere beyond the classical ideal that Jürgen Habermas has sketched out. It connects with the theorizing stream of Oskar Negt and Alexander Kluge (Public Sphere of Experience: Analysis of the Bourgeois and Proletarian Public Sphere; Verso, 1993), who deem the public sphere as the "social horizon of experience," thus expanding the definition of this phrase beyond institutions and practices like the press, public opinion, and public places. Places, presence, and publicity, which are presupposed in a public sphere, are useful elements to think about when reading the ten essays in this book. Mediated dissent refers to protests and other forms of oppositional communicative practices that are presented through media technologies (2–5). At the same time a mediated public sphere can be found on the internet. The internet is such an imposing public space that one of the contributing authors, Paulo Gerbaudo, calls it "digital-popular," a take on the Gramscian phrase "national-popular," which refers to the commonly held beliefs of subaltern groups (39). Many of the case studies in the book show how online discursive spaces are bound up with physical spaces of [End Page 265] protests. These physical locations constitute another type of public sphere, the public square. The fusion of mediated dissent and protests in physical places has worked for social movements in communities in Leyte and Samar hit by Typhoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) and Hong Kong's "Umbrella Revolution" and has functioned as a metaphorical stage for performance-as-protest in Tahrir Square in Cairo and the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Two chapters look at mediated dissent in the Philippines: "Protest as Interruption of the Disaster Imaginary: Overcoming Voice-Denying Rationalities in Post-Haiyan Philippines" by Nicole Curato, Jonathan Corpus Ong, and Liezel Longboan (77–96) and "Minority Groups and Strategies of Display and Dissent in Physical, Virtual and Hybrid Spaces" by Cheryll Ruth Soriano and Ruepert Jiel Cao (207–25). It is worth focusing on these two case studies as examples of how social movements negotiate online and offline limitations to put forward practical and symbolic claims and enact agency. The case study on how the people in Samar and Leyte found their collective voices in the aftermath of the 2013 tropical storm Haiyan follows the activities of People Surge, a group that demands transparent relief and rehabilitation procedures from the government and participation in the rebuilding process. Haiyan was one of the strongest storms to hit the planet, and the Philippines was ill-prepared for the destruction it caused over vast swaths of coastal communities, municipalities, and cities. The study seeks to find out how "voice-denying rationalities" (79) have shaped postdisaster events. Broadly defined as ways of thinking that silence political speech in disaster-affected communities, voice-denying rationalities are also the effects of discourses the government puts forward. The official postdisaster discourse tries to set rehabilitation narratives in a three-fold manner: first, priority shall be given to basic needs for survival over communication needs; second, political demands have to yield to calls for sobriety and national unity; and, third, since the protests seem divided along political lines, the authenticity of the voices of the community of sufferers have to be doubted (81). As a result of this official discourse, rather than granting sufferers the right to freely speak, they are rendered voiceless. The idea of silencing is challenged by an implied assumption in the case study that disasters are sites of justice or spaces where the delivery of needs and communication is oriented toward respect, honesty, and equity. [End Page 266] Voice-denying rationalities are reinforced by the axiom that postdisaster recovery is possible through a resilient human spirit; thus, accusations of incompetence, corruption, and neglect leveled against the government are simply signs of victims being...

Local aid workers in the digital humanitarian project: between “second class citizens” and “entrepreneurial survivors”

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the experiences of Filipino workers recruited for technology and communications work by international aid agencies involved in the Typhoon Haiyan response. Filipino workers, many of whom were personally coping with the social and economic impact of this disaster, were hired on short-term contracts to test and implement various digital humanitarian innovations such as feedback and hazard mapping technological platforms. These workers were doubly marginalized: first, as tech workers whose work was viewed by aid officers on the ground as less substantial than that of food or shelter programs; and second, as local voices often drowned out by national and international colleagues. Moving beyond the usual figure of the cosmopolitan and adventure-seeking Western humanitarian acting on distant suffering, this paper draws attention to local aid workers’ aspirations for personal and professional mobility as they seize novel opportunities opened up by the digital humanitarian agenda. It outlines how the digital humanitarian project’s ambition to facilitate the inclusion of disaster-affected communities is fundamentally undermined by labor arrangements that doubly marginalize local aid workers.

Religious Fractionalisation and Crimes in Disaster-Affected Communities: Survey Evidence from Bangladesh

ABSTRACT This study employs unique household data collected in cyclone-affected communities in Bangladesh to investigate whether religious fractionalisation is associated with crime victimisation after disasters. The identification strategy relies on two characteristics of the study area: 1) its religious composition is stable; and 2) its households’ pre-disaster socio-economic status is uncorrelated with religious fractionalisation and disaster damage after controlling for the observed characteristics. The findings suggest that households in disaster-affected and religiously fractionalised communities are more likely to be victims after a natural disaster than are households in non-fractionalised communities. This study also finds empirical support for the idea that the result is driven by the misallocation of disaster relief in fractionalised communities.