Divided disasters: examining the impacts of the conflict–disaster nexus for distanced crises in the Philippines

Abstract

'Divided disasters' are conflicts and natural hazard-induced disasters that occur simultaneously, but in different locations within the same national boundaries. They will place pressure on the same national governance structures, will draw on the same international and national humanitarian resources, and therefore can mutually reinforce the challenges and risks faced by affected populations. Yet, as this paper argues, the impacts do not originate in the direct interaction of these two variables. Rather, they derive, in part, from the management of humanitarian responses to them-namely, through the reprioritisation of attention and the redeployment of resources as driven by the imperatives of 'the good project'. Using a case study of the Philippines, and the parallel emergencies of Typhoon Haiyan (one of the strongest tropical cyclones on record) and the spike in violence in Mindanao in 2013, this paper explores the organisational motivators of humanitarian responses to divided disasters, and assesses their implications for affected populations.

Challenges in public health and epidemiology research in humanitarian settings: experiences from the field

“…As more humanitarian crises are precipitated by disasters, health research in humanitarian settings must continue to grapple with these complex environments. While studying human impact and deaths is of utmost importance, these studies also generate questions related to the ethics of such activities [ 3 ]. Further, the conditions in post-disaster settings present hurdles to research that must meet acceptable scientific standards while also navigating unusual barriers to implementation.…”

Divergent dynamics: disasters and conflicts as ‘drivers’ of internal displacement?

“…The research also considers how simultaneous conflicts and disasters in a country can interact to exacerbate existing risks or create new ones for its population (Maxwell and Fitzpatrick, 2012). That can happen directly when a disaster occurs in a conflict zone (Hyndman, 2011; Walch, 2014), but also indirectly when a disaster elsewhere in the country impacts on people in the conflict zone by causing the redeployment of aid to the new crisis or the disruption of central government (Field, 2018). This research recognises displacement as a factor through which these causal relationships can be mediated—for instance, war displaces people to a place where they are more exposed to disasters, or vice versa (Wisner, 2011)—but does not delve into its dynamics.…”

“…5–8). However, even this overlooks how apparently separate crises in different parts of the same country can often influence one another in indirect ways (Field, 2018).…”

Risk, vulnerability, and pragmatic inevitability: the conflict–disaster nexus and urban governance in Johannesburg, South Africa

“…In response to ambiguous and unsatisfactory results emerging from correlations between disaster and war, more recent studies have sought to consider the complex and dynamic nature of 'disaster' and 'conflict' and account for the significant temporal and spatial lags in how climate change and conflict affect communities. Methodologically, the integration of ethnographic and mixedmethods approaches proposes to shift the focus to processes and actors engaged in disaster recovery efforts that impact on pre existing social conflict dynamics and state governance (Haigh et al, 2016;Field, 2018;Walch, 2018;Siddiqi and Canuday, 2018). Such research reveals the challenge of disaster recovery and longterm risk reduction in the context of armed conflict and volatile governance structures, which is often neglected by prevailing approaches to disaster response (Wisner, 2017;Field, 2018;Walch, 2018), notably in housing reconstruction that might exacerbate previous conflicts (Haigh et al, 2016).…”

“…Methodologically, the integration of ethnographic and mixedmethods approaches proposes to shift the focus to processes and actors engaged in disaster recovery efforts that impact on pre existing social conflict dynamics and state governance (Haigh et al, 2016;Field, 2018;Walch, 2018;Siddiqi and Canuday, 2018). Such research reveals the challenge of disaster recovery and longterm risk reduction in the context of armed conflict and volatile governance structures, which is often neglected by prevailing approaches to disaster response (Wisner, 2017;Field, 2018;Walch, 2018), notably in housing reconstruction that might exacerbate previous conflicts (Haigh et al, 2016). Reconstituting relation ships between the state and citizens, as well as across communities, rebuilding trust, and reassuring faith above and beyond in, or in tandem with, physical rebuilding are therefore of paramount importance.…”