RE: [Radix] Disaster Preparedness in Minority Communities?‏

[Ilan Kelman]

Dear Brian (and Radix):

Your email covers several topics simultaneously, all with their own literature.  I provide some illustrative (far from comprehensive) examples for each:

(i) Disaster-related activities in "marginalized" communities.

Some researchers object to the term "marginalized", but there are, of course, many definitions and interpretations of it.  The example that is of most interest to me is islands, often termed "small islands" or "small, isolated islands", for which material is available at http://www.islandvulnerability.org  As well, a book by James Lewis http://developmentbookshop.com/product_info.php?products_id=463 discusses aspects of proportional impact / proportional vulnerability, setting up a useful theoretical foundation for examining the vulnerability of marginalized people, of marginalized places, or of marginalized people in marginalized places, each of which again represents its own discourse.  James Lewis' work http://datum.gn.apc.org is particularly relevant to islands and other isolated locations which are often considered to be or labelled as "marginal" or "peripheral"

(ii) Disaster-related activities to assist minority communities or minorities in communities.

One of the extensive discourses on this topic relates to power structures,
empowerment, and vulnerability.  Ken Hewitt, Ben Wisner, Terry Cannon, and Tony Oliver-Smith have contributed extensively to research and practice on this topic.  See, for example:
     
Hewitt K. (ed.), Interpretations of Calamity from the Viewpoint of Human Ecology, Allen & Unwin, London (1983)
     
Hewitt K., Preventable Disasters: Addressing Social Vulnerability, Institutional Risk, and Civil Ethics,  Geographisches Rundscahu: International Edition, 3(1), 43-52 (2007)
     
Oliver-Smith T., The Martyred City: Death and Rebirth in the Andes, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM (1986)
     
Wisner, B. "Disaster Vulnerability: Scale, Power, and Daily Life." Geojournal 30,2, pp. 127-140.
     
Wisner B., Blaikie P., Cannon T. and Davis I., At Risk: Natural Hazards, People’s Vulnerability and Disasters, 2nd ed., Routledge, London (2004)

All this work is highly relevant to and certainly needed for point (i) too and it has been applied to minorities, marginalisation, and indiginous eity by authors such as Jean-Christophe
Gaillard http://jc.gaillard.monsite.orange.fr and Jessica Mercer (see (iv) below) amongst others.

(iii) Disaster-related activities for minorities in urban areas.

A fascinating project is the "Geography of Urban Social Vulnerability" http://geic.hq.unu.edu/env/project1.cfm?type=1&ID=28 and http://www.unu.edu/env/urban/social-vulnerability/index.htm  For the case studies that you mention, Los Angeles "There are worse things than earthquakes" might be apposite.

(iv) Disaster-related activities and indigenous knowledge.

Aside from your own contributions on this topic, go to http://www.riskred.org/favourites.html and click on "Indigenous
knowledge" for some links.

(v) For specific publications addressing "racial/ethnic demographics and disaster preparedness" in urban settings see http://www.docuticker.com/?p=21705 /
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6651771/Disaster-Preparedness-in-Urban-Immigrant-Communities for southern California (however, I have not read this document, so I cannot judge it or advocate that it is appropriate) and also http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=5782 (e.g. pp. 122-125) for the USA.

For all the above, aside from the Katrina literature that you mention along with the tsunami literature that you know already, the Gender and Disaster Network http://www.gdnonline.org along with Radix itself http://www.radixonline.org will have other relevant resources.  I hope that some of this material covers what you are seeking.  With best wishes,

Ilan

_________________________________________________________________
The new Windows Live Messenger. You don’t want to miss this.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowslive/products/messenger.aspx