PurposeThis article analyzes biopolitical strategies for the recovery of neoliberal normality in urban areas affected by earthquakes in 1985, 2010 and 2015 in Chile (intensity >8.0Mw).Design/methodology/approachThis is a qualitative design research. In total, 198 semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven focus groups. The data were processed in search of discursive threads, guided by the categories contained in the analysis and those arising from the interview transcripts.FindingsResults describe three clusters of discursive threads: disruption of normality, strategies of disaster biopolitics and narratives on the recovery of normality in the medium to long term. In the analyzed cases, disaster biopolitics entered domestic and community spaces to govern life; while the aim was to safeguard lives, it also sought to ensure the continuity of the neoliberal regime. The disaster biopolitics used the exception to normalize, constructing subjectivity and memory around the idea of catastrophes.Research limitations/implicationsThe qualitative design can be used in sudden and extreme situations, but it is not possible to anticipate similar results in other kind of disasters (e.g. drought).Social implicationsThis study wants to contribute a political vision about disasters by describing the process of restoring order, which follows highly destructive disasters, by demonstrating that in Chile, the biopolitical exception was key to returning to neoliberal normality.Originality/valueThe findings can help improve emergency responses and propose the necessity of political contextualization in post-disaster recovery processes.

The article analyzes the contexts and specificities of post-disaster social work intervention based on the testimonies of social workers who participated in the recovery and normalization processes after the earthquakes of 1985, 2010, and 2015 in Chile. The neoliberal context has influence in the social intervention. As neoliberalism deepens, there is more technology and better access to material resources, but at the same time, professional autonomy and community knowledge decrease. Research suggests there is a need for further critical discussion about how social work has been colonized by neoliberalism, even in seemingly neutral issues such as post-disaster intervention.