Disasters最新文献

A disaster is frequently cited as a driver of human trafficking, with claims that earthquakes, tsunamis, or typhoons create a chaotic post-calamity environment ripe for traffickers to recruit their victims. Theory suggests that increased poverty, displacement, and a breakdown of law and order contribute to this situation. Yet, there is little discussion in the literature of how post-disaster trafficking unfolds, coupled with a dearth of empirical evidence. This paper challenges existing disaster–trafficking assumptions through interviews with trafficking survivors in the Philippines, a disaster-prone nation and an averred ‘trafficking hotspot’. Interviewees indicated that disaster-related disruption to their lives prompted a chain of events which resulted in trafficking many years later—in other words, a notable ‘slow-burn effect’. These are presented here as five disaster–trafficking narratives or themes, which paint a more nuanced picture than the oft-held assumption that traffickers exploit people directly in a disaster zone, in the immediate aftermath of the event.

Ever since colonisation by the British in 1840, Māori, the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, have been fighting to reclaim their mana (authority and influence) over their whenua (land). They were set to regain mana in emergency management (EM) through a parliamentary Bill, but a recent change of government has seen this legislation discharged. This paper explores the barriers to and the opportunities for gains in authority and influence in EM, with authority understood as representation on the national and regional EM bodies, and influence as incorporation of the Māori worldview into legislation and supporting EM implementation documentation. The study applies these different levels of analysis to two case studies to examine any EM-related changes between the Christchurch earthquake in February 2011 and the arrival of Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023. The paper offers several strategies at both analytical levels that Māori could use to further their mana under the current government.

Drawing on in-depth qualitative research, this article explores how the experiences and practices of health workers responding to humanitarian crises can foster new forms of solidarity, moral community, and state–society relations in situations of conflict, structural violence, and disputed governance. Focusing on partnerships formed between ethnic minority and former government health workers since Myanmar's coup of 2021, it shows how shared experiences of suffering, and relationships of care forged to address it, foster more inclusive and equitable notions of moral community. Community-level health partnerships are key not just for crisis response, but also for challenging divisive and exclusionary forms of citizenship, service delivery, and governance, and for building more just and emancipatory models of civic identity, social welfare, and state–society relations—health workers being potential agents of revolutionary change. International aid must support community-led social welfare mechanisms that build solidarity and social justice ‘from below’ in contexts of structural violence and disputed governance.

This study qualitatively compares how 18 experienced emergency responders from the fire services in Bergen, Norway, and London, United Kingdom, maintained and adapted their organisation's work, routines, and leadership practices to maintain operational capacity, preparedness, and resilience during the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic from 2020-23. Semi-structured, qualitative interviews were conducted with nine experienced emergency responders in London and nine in Bergen, enquiring how the pandemic affected their work, their needs for maintaining operational preparedness going forward, and their COVID-19 experiences. Four themes emerged, related to their emotional experiences, how to maintain readiness, continuing to serve the community, and professionalism and learning. The discussion of these themes highlights the need for flexibility in planning, rather than comprehensive plans, and leadership that understands emergency responders' requirements. Drawing on the unique aspects of this study, a two-country comparison and the focus on experienced emergency responders, recommendations are offered for individual and organisational resilience, and the interface between them.

This paper studies how the relations between nature and society are constructed in disaster governance frameworks. Dominant disaster governance frameworks present nature and society as separate realms, and the organisation of society is increasingly seen as the key cause of hazards and disasters. Disaster impacts are similarly framed around adverse societal consequences, while other-than-human nature is merely the background across which disasters unfold, as property lost, or a means of disaster governance. Although the centrality of human impacts is troubled when biodiversity or a disaster flagship species is threatened, neither situation challenges the nature–society dualism embedded in dominant disaster governance frameworks. The attention and resources of disaster governance target the societal side of nature–society dualism. This study finds, though, that in peripheries characterised by remoteness from centres of power, a sparse human population, and large spaces of other-than-human nature, the vulnerabilities facing humans and other-than-human nature risk being ungoverned.

The 3.11 disaster in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, is a useful case study through which to interrogate research ethics. This region has been the site of a high degree of research interest, which sometimes presented a source of stress to local communities. This study examines researcher perspectives on the ethics of post-disaster health research. Qualitative interviews were conducted with these informants, who noted that recovering communities experienced significant over-research, particularly in the form of survey fatigue, which was seen to influence viewpoints concerning both recovery and agency. Efforts to integrate better into community needs reoriented reflexive research towards ‘post-normal’ forms of working. Simultaneously, researchers had to navigate funding and reward structures that prioritised the swift production of results. Focusing on community engagement and feedback, and managing this ethical complexity, were seen as essential forms of ethical practice to mitigate the negative impacts that the influx of research activity can have on a recovering community.

Inami, a small seaside town in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, is getting ready for the next Nankai Trough earthquake, which is expected to involve multiple events of magnitude 7.0+ on the maximum seismic intensity scale, causing landslides and tsunamis. This paper is concerned with the capabilities and challenges of an elderly community in this highly prepared rural town. The results show that the continued mainstreaming of disaster preparedness practices has led to widespread awareness of evacuation sites and basic knowledge of disaster evacuation needs. Arguably, however, insufficient support is provided to the elderly as current procedures often do not consider how their reduced mobility, physical strength, and psychological discomfort might impact on evacuation itself and life at the shelters. This paper contributes to the literature on disaster and vulnerability by critically assessing and expanding on perceptions of ageing and disasters in rural areas vis-à-vis the traditional depiction of the elderly as ‘vulnerable and helpless’.

Violent clashes erupted on the Greek island of Lesvos in early 2020, during which aid groups, volunteers, and activists were threatened and attacked. Aid actors and media sources attributed these events to far-right, nationalist, and xenophobic mobilisation; however, this risks ignoring more structural factors and local perspectives on asylum policies and practices. This paper suggests that a more critical approach is necessary to understand why people mobilised against aid on Lesvos, and it explores how this antagonism can be seen as intrinsic to the ‘humanitarian border’ as it materialised on the island. Aid groups, volunteers, and activists became integral to this, spawning stories of how they were sustaining the migration dynamic. How these stories coincided with far-right mobilisation is not straightforward, and nuancing how local concern and protest and far-right anti-immigration sympathies relate is imperative to comprehending hostility to aid groups and may contribute to fostering better relations with communities in refugee-hosting areas.

Previous research suggests that sex traffickers may take advantage of vulnerable populations in the aftermath of disasters caused by natural hazards. Despite the amplification of vulnerabilities in the wake of such events and the increased likelihood of sex traffickers exploiting them, there is limited empirical evidence to show such a connection. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to answer the following research question: what is the relationship between hurricanes and online advertisements potentially linked to sex trafficking? Hurricane Laura (a Category 4 hurricane that occurred between 20 and 29 August 2020) serves as a case study and data are scraped from Escort Index, an aggregator of popular multi-service adult entertainment platforms in the United States. The results show a significant negative relationship between Hurricane Laura and the number of online sex advertisements potentially linked to human trafficking. The study offers three alternative explanations for this finding and concludes by outlining additional areas of research on this important topic.

Typically, advancing localised approaches to peacebuilding has evaded critical reflection on the power dynamics and harms that can arise. This paper considers the gender dynamics and gendered harms that can manifest themselves when adopting an uncritical approach to localisation in peacebuilding. To do so, it examines the use of mato oput (drinking the bitter root) in post-conflict northern Uganda, as an example of a localised approach to post-conflict transitional justice, to investigate these dynamics and harms. It draws from interviews and focus-group discussions that were conducted in northern Uganda between 2020 and 2022 and engages with critical international relations scholarship on the ‘local turn’ in peacebuilding and the gendered nature of conflict and peace. The paper argues that in patriarchal societies, advancing localisation may entail a return to the traditional or customary order that reaffirms and reifies oppressive gender power relations and helps to consolidate gender inequalities, including unequal access to both security and justice.