Bodies at Risk: “Managing” Sexuality and Reproduction in the Aftermath of Disaster in the Philippines Kaira

Abstract

This article explores the intersection of sexual and reproductive health, development and human rights in the context of managing post-disaster relief and rehabilitation operations. As a case study, it investigates the disaster response and rehabilitation efforts carried out in southern Philippines after the devastation wrought by the tropical storm Washi (locally known as Sendong) in December 2011, which resulted in thousands of casualties, with thousands more displaced and forced to live in makeshift evacuation centers. Using a varied range of methods for data collection, including personal interviews, group workshops, body mapping, and a socio-demographic and reproductive health survey in evacuation camps, the study reveals how post-disaster interventions and strategies remain grounded in medicotechnical and managerial narratives, thereby marginalizing the sexual and gendered dimensions of calamities. I argue that this marginalization in disaster risk-management practices renders gender and sexuality impersonal, disembodied and apolitical. In doing so, disaster risk management runs the risk of reproducing inequalities, vulnerabilities, and social exclusion in the aftermath of calamities. This article aims at broadening our understanding of disaster risk reduction and management by re-centering sexuality Kaira Zoe K. Alburo-Cañete, Assistant Professor of Gender and Development, University of the Philippines Cebu.

Expanding the capabilities of people with disabilities in disaster risk reduction

“…Some of these strategies were indeed adopted in this MI project and elsewhere (Alburo-Cañete, 2016;Craig et al, 2019;Malteser International, 2014;Mitchell & Karr, 2014) to help the powerful realise that they can achieve their DRR goals (e.g. reducing mortality, damage and loss from disasters) by acknowledging the agency of PWD to protect themselves from disasters provided that preconditions exist and by empowering the PWD to achieve these goals.…”

Challenges Faced by Marginalized Communities in a Post-Disaster Context: A Systematic Review of the Literature

“…The lack of privacy in shelter camps (C31) for women and children, especially girls, in the relief centers can be viewed as a significant challenge due to the lack of suitable infrastructure services. When shelter camps are set up in the aftermath of a disaster, they often lack adequate infrastructure, such as separate living spaces, gender-segregated toilets, washing facilities, and adequate lighting and security measures to meet the basic needs of displaced people [35,40,41,49,64,65]. Lord et al and Moreno and Shaw [36,49] claimed that these infrastructure challenges could exacerbate the lack of privacy for women and children, increasing the risk of gender-based violence, harassment, and exploitation.…”

Presentación del dossier. Comunidad, vulnerabilidad y reproducción en condiciones de desastre. Abordajes desde América Latina y el Caribe

“…Así mismo, son más propensas a padecer hambre en una sequía por asegurar el alimento de las personas que tienen a su cargo (De Sousa 1995). Algunos estudios demuestran, además, que sufren violencia y ataques sexuales en las etapas de recuperación y reconstrucción (Alburo-Cañete 2014;Bradshaw y Fordham 2013;Clemens et al 1999;Cotarelo 2015) y que, en la mayoría de los casos, la cuantificación económica de las pérdidas no tiene en cuenta las herramientas de trabajo de las mujeres, particularmente de las más pobres, que mediante tareas informarles garantizan su subsistencia y la de su familia antes del desastre (Bradshaw 2004).…”