Linkages in Disasters A Perspective on Migrants Inclusivity in Disaster Risk Reduction, Lisette Robles ROBLES

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International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2016
‘Integrative Risk Management – Towards Resilient Cities‘ • 28 Aug – 1 Sept 2016 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
Linkages in Disasters:
A Perspective on Migrants Inclusivity in
Disaster Risk Reduction
Lisette R.ROBLES1, Tomohiro ICHINOSE2
1Graduate School of Media and Governance/Keio University, Japan
2Faculty of Environment and Information Studies/Keio University, Japan

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INTRODUCTION
Trends in Reported Natural Disasters 1900-2015
(by Disaster Type)

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INTRODUCTION
Trends in Reported Natural Disasters 1900-2015
(by Continent)

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On Disaster and Vulnerability
• Research for a number of years has examined the notion that
some groups in society are more prone than other to damage,
loss, and suffering in the context of differing hazards (Blaikie
et al. 1994).
• Key characteristics of these variations of impact include class,
caste, ethnicity, gender, disability, age or seniority. Migrants
are among the vulnerable population during disasters.
(Thomas, D.S.K. et.al. 2013).
• Non-nationals, especially migrant workers and their families,
have often remained invisible and thus not been accounted
for humanitarian response mechanisms. (International
Organization for Migration, 2012)

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Source: http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/data/estimates2/estimatesmaps.shtml
Based on the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division, trends in international
migrant stock for 2015 included 243,700,236 persons moving across countries for various reasons

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Total Immigrant and Emigrant Populations by Country, mid-2013 Estimates

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Migrants and Disasters
• Migrants (foreign residents) automatically perceived as
victims, are very often found vulnerable to disaster risks
due to certain limitations in language, civil rights, social
protection and support. However, they bear distinct
capacities to deal and respond to catastrophic conditions.
The shift of the changing times puts its spotlight for the
need to recognize their capacities; and among the
neglected resources of migrants includes their composite
set of social connections.

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Social Capital in Disaster
• Natural disasters altered the geophysical landscapes,
consequentially disrupting economics, politics, and even the
existing social fabrics. In cases of large-scale disasters, people’s
relations are interrupted, causing the need to adjust social
connections to cope and advance their resilience. The catastrophes
act as catalyst to these changes that either enhance or diminish
their personal networks. (Robles and Ichinose, 2016)
• Disasters constitute as those settings where people (re)create
connections to increase their capacity to respond and recover. As
Woolcock and Narayan (2000) puts it: “It’s not what you know, it`s
who you know“. Resources are essential in addressing catastrophic
conditions, but human resources built in one’s personal network of
connections makes it possible.

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actual or potential resources
durable network
mutual acquaintance
& recognition
membership
collectively
owned capital
credential
Bourdieu, 1983
social capital
connections
individuals
social networks
reciprocity
Putnam,2000
trust-worthiness
defined by its function
social structures
actors within structure
Coleman, 1988
institutions, relationships,
and norms
social
interactions
social cohesion
it is the glue that
holds them together
The World Bank
networks of social relations
access to resources and
supports
Policy Research
Initiative, 2005

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Social Capital and Disasters
• Disasters are significant moments where human relations
take dynamic transitions. In the study of these human
drawbacks during catastrophic conditions; social connections
are noteworthy sources of resilience and recovery. Hence, it
places value to social capital –the intangible yet equally
important resource for individuals and on a larger stream, the
community relevant to disaster response, mitigation and
recovery (Aldrich 2012).

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BONDING
BRIDGING
LINKING
(Adapted from Building Resilience: Social Capital in Post-Disaster
Recovery. Aldrich, 2012)
Individuals and localities do not
bounce back from disaster solely
through wealth, government aid or
top-down leadership but through
their neighbors, connections and
social networks. (Aldrich 2012)
Across
vertical gradients
Between
networks
Within
networks

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MIGRANTS
RESOURCES
MIGRANT LINKAGES
Who are these agents of
linking social capital?
What roles do linking
capital assumes to
support migrants /foreign
resident in disasters?

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Disaster, Linking Social Capital
and Social Justice Theory
• Linking capital has an elective
affinity with social
justice…Justice “issues”
include social processes such
as deciding how to distribute
resources, determining the
role of values in managing
conflicts and particularly,
providing a voice for
marginalized groups in
making decisions and
resolving conflicts (Opotow &
Clayton, 1994 ; Opotow &
Weiss, 2000 in Loebach &
Stewart, 2015 ).
Disaster
Social
Capital
Social
Justice

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Linking Capital
and
Social Justice
Linking social capital advances distributive and procedural
justice that delivers tangible outcome towards disaster
recovery (Loebach and Stewart, 2015). This constitutes the
vital functions of linking social capital in instances of disaster.

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Distributive Justice
Reiterating the position that migrants are part of the vulnerable
population, they too necessitate a particular set of support especially in
the recovery from the disaster.

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2011-03-11 05:46 UTC
Magnitude:
9.0 (the largest earthquake recorded in Japan)
Hypocenter:
38° 6.2′ N, 142° 51.6′ E (130km ESE off Oshika
Peninsula) Depth 24km
JMA Seismic Intensity:
[7(Max)] - Kurihara City of Miyagi Prefecture
[6+] - 28 cities and towns in Miyagi,
Fukushima, Ibaraki, and Tochigi Pref.
[6- or weaker] - Observed nationwide from
Hokkaido to Kyushu
Observed tsunami:
9.3m or higher at Soma (Fukushima Pref.),
8.6m or higher at Ishinomaki (Miyagi Pref.),
etc.
Source: Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)
Great East Japan Earthquake

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Humanitarian Aid during the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake
• 163 countries and regions as well as 43 international
organizations have expressed their intentions to extend
assistance. (This includes general offer of assistance,
dispatching relief teams, providing relief supplies and
donations.)
• Relief goods and donations from 128 countries /regions
reached more than 17.5 billion yen in total (As of Dec
2012).
Source: List of Relief Supplies and Donations from Overseas, As of December 28, 2012. MOFA
http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/incidents/pdfs/r_goods.pdf

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Bayanihan Kesennuma Filipino Community
The organization with 74 members
began 18 years ago. Their network
greatly helped in disseminating
information to Filipinos who were
victims of the 2011 earthquake and
tsunami.

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Bayanihan Kesennuma Radio
• FMYY provided broadcasting
facilities
• One hour broadcast
• Internet radio- local and
international
• Content: Disaster experiences, safety
measures, information on daily living
• Language use- Japanese, English &
Filipino
• Started in June 2011
• Now shifted to Kesennuma Sainai
FM- local station; regular
programming-10 minutes, twice a
month

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Caregiver Training
• Certification
• 2 year project
• Previous factory workers
• Several graduates (Chilean, Chinese,
Korean, Filipino)
• Some works in senior citizen centers

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Immediate Long-term
RESOURCES
*Author-formulated diagram
Distributive Justice M*

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Procedural Justice
This instigates the core values of respect and inclusion to
which all affected parties have rights, are deemed respected,
recognized and encourage to participate (Paavola and Adger,
2006; Loebach and Stewart, 2015). It administers the
formulation of rules and policies that intends to be beneficial
to all stakeholders.

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Local Government Initiatives

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The Sendai Tourism Convention and International Association (SenTIA) initiates disaster-
relevant activities to make foreign residents better informed in instances of disaster. More
than the disaster programs, migrants are invited to participate in other solidarity activities
that can engage their better involvement in the community even prior to a disaster. This
may have been previously practiced even in other cities, but the 2011 disaster strengthened
this incentive for migrant participation in their community.

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Accessible Information

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Website Features/Details (As of Aug 2016) Total (%)
Links available for Foreign Residents 47 (100%)
Available links for International Exchanges and Supports 39 (83.0%)
International Association (As available in the website) 20 (42.6%)
Living Information (Settlement) Support 46 (97.9%)
Disaster-Relevant Information (in For. Lang) 44 (93.6%)
Available Foreign language options 47 (100 %)
Languages Available:
English 47 (100 %)
Chinese 47 (100 %)
Korean 43 (91.5%)
Other languages: Russian, German, Spanish, Portuguese,
Tagalog, Thai, French, Vietnamese and Italian

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POLICIES & PROGRAM
National Level
Local Level
*Author-formulated diagram
Procedural Justice M*

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MIGRANT INCLUSIVE RISK MANAGEMENT
& URBAN RESILIENCE
• Tokyo Metropolitan Area
From Tokyo Statistical Yearbook
2014
• Tokyo Pop. 13,296,517
• Daytime Pop.: 15.58 Million
• Nighttime Pop: 13.16 Million
• Net Inflow
• 2,416,725 persons
• 2,161,589 commuters
• 255,136 pupils/students
• 499,042 Foreign Residents
(As of Jan 1, 2016)

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Sendai Framework
Priority of Action 1 Understanding Risk
(1.4) Building capacity to ensure
that all sectors and countries have access to,
understand and can use scientific information for
better informed decision-making
Rethinking policies to better
integrate the vulnerable
population in DRR
Urban sites remain at risk if a
definitive understanding of the
population is not achieved.

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The Linkage Capital and
the Shift in Migrant Perspective
Hyogo Framework Agreement
2005-2015
III. Priorities for action
(e) Cultural diversity, age, and
vulnerable groups should be
taken into account when
planning for disaster risk
reduction, as appropriate;
Sendai Framework for Disaster
Risk Reduction 2015-2030
V. Role of Stakeholders
(vi) Migrants contribute to the
resilience of communities and
societies and their knowledge,
skills and capacities can be
useful in the design and
implementation of disaster risk
reduction.

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Summary: Functions of Linking Capital for Migrants
and the Corresponding Social Agents
Function Description Agents (Social Actors)
Distributive
Appropriate resource
distribution to vulnerable
population
Local government
(Host country)
Consular Office (Home country),
International Agencies and
Humanitarian Groups, NPOs,
NGOs
Procedural
Policy formation for
inclusive implementation
Local and Prefectural
government (Host country),
International Agencies

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CONCLUSION
• Linking social capital transpires between two nodes, one of
which are the formal agencies that supports the
implementation of distributing resources and crafting
procedures. However, at the other end of the spectrum are the
migrants who are expected to actively participate and engage in
such activities attuned to their needs. Inclusion requires the
collaboration among stakeholders and to do so, we have to
recognize our capacities and be able to engage and be active
partners in disaster risk reduction and recovery.

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REFERENCES
• Aldrich, Daniel (2012a). Social capital in post-disaster recovery: Towards a resilient and
compassionate East Asian community. In Sawada, Y. and S. Oum (eds.), Economic and Welfare
Impacts of Disasters in East Asia and Policy Responses, 157-178, ERIA, Jakarta.
• Aldrich, Daniel (2012b). Building resilience: Social capital in post-disaster recovery, University of
Chicago, Chicago.
• Airiess, Christopher A. (2008). Church-based social capital, networks and geographical scale: Katrina
evacuation, relocation, and recovery in a New Orleans Vietnamese American community Geoforum,
39 (3), 1333-1346.
• Blaikie, Piers et.al. (1994) At risk: Natural hazards, people’s vulnerability and disasters, Routledge,
London.
• Chamlee-Wright, Emily (2006). After the storm: Social capital regrouping in the wake of Hurricane
Katrina. Global Prosperity Initiative, Working Paper 70, 38 pages.
• Cutter, Susan L.; Boruff, Bryan J.; Shirley, W. Lynn (2002). Social Vulnerability to Environmental
Hazards. Social Science Quarterly, 84, 242-261.
• Hawkins, Robert L.; Maurer, Katherine (2010). Bonding, bridging and linking: How social capital
operated in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. British Journal of Social Work, 40, 1777-1793.
• Loebach, Peter; Stewart, Julie (2015). Vital linkages: A study of the role of linking social capital in a
Philippine disaster recovery and rebuilding effort. Social Justice Research, 28(3), 339-362.
• Nakagawa, Yuko; Shaw,Rajib (2004). Social capital: A missing link to disaster recovery. International
Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters , 22(1), 5–34.

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REFERENCES
• Paavola, Jouni; Adger, W. Neil (2006). Fair adaptation to climate change. Ecological Economics, 56,
594-609.
• Putnam, Robert D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. Simon
& Schuster, New York.
• Robles, Lisette R.; Ichinose, Tomohiro (2016). Connections, Trust and Social Capital in Disaster : A
study on the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan affected residents in Leyte, Philippines. Journal of
Environmental Information Science 44 (5), 79-88.
• Szreter, Simon; Woolcock, Michael (2004). Health by association? Social capital, social theory, and
the political economy of public health. International Journal of Epidemiology, 33(4), 650-667.
• United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. (2015). Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk
Reduction (2015-2030).
• Woolcock, Michael; Narayan, Deepa (2000). Social capital: Implications for development theory,
research, and policy. The World Bank Research Observer, 15(2), 225-249.

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Thank You!
Vielen Dank!

Linkages in Disasters A Perspective on Migrants Inclusivity in Disaster Risk Reduction, Lisette Robles ROBLES

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