Space and a Damaged Place: Philippine Migrant Transnational Engagement Following the Guinsaugon Landslide Disaster

Abstract

This study utilises a range of qualitative data sources to investigate migrant transnational activity occurring in response to a landslide disaster event that affected the Philippine village of Guinsaugon in February 2006. The disaster provoked multiple responses from village emigrants. A first wave of migrants returned to assist kin members directly affected by the disaster. A second wave of migrants arrived between 1 week and 3 months following the disaster to assist the community as a whole. One aiding organisation was formed by returned migrants who organised in their home community following the disaster. The ATHena Project: Advocacy for Transparency and Honesty was a civil society organisation that promoted accountability in the donation distribution process and also initiated political change. These activities were made possible by recent advances in information and` communication technologies and by the specific form of the weak Philippine state that enables the Philippine diaspora to emerge as a powerful social group. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Family-mediated migration infrastructure: Chinese international students and parents navigating (im)mobilities during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Essential resources are channeled through family networks (Le D e et al 2016). People move away from disaster zones to join their families, and such movement often involves transnational border-crossing (Loebach 2016). In disasters such as flood, hurricane and earthquake, resource and human mobilities are clearly defined by the spatial demarcation between disaster and "safe" zones (Horton 2012;Loebach 2016;Sapat and Esnard 2012).…”

“…People move away from disaster zones to join their families, and such movement often involves transnational border-crossing (Loebach 2016). In disasters such as flood, hurricane and earthquake, resource and human mobilities are clearly defined by the spatial demarcation between disaster and "safe" zones (Horton 2012;Loebach 2016;Sapat and Esnard 2012). However, what makes the COVID-19 pandemic unique is its sheer scale, which blurs the boundary between disaster and "safe" zones, although a clearer distinction may emerge as different countries phase out of the pandemic at different times.…”