This book shows how the adoption of the neoliberal development model has increased the social vulnerability to disasters, with a special focus on Mexico, a country which once was the role model of the neoliberal turn in Latin America. It brings together 12 case studies of disasters such as floods, earthquakes and volcanic emergencies, in both urban and rural areas, to show how neoliberal development projects and changes in legislation affected disaster prevention and management in different parts of the country. The case studies from Mexico are complemented by two comparative studies which analyze the impacts of neoliberalism in disaster prevention and management in Mexico, Brazil, United States and Italy.
Disasters and Neoliberalism: Different Expressions of Social Vulnerability presents a unique contribution to the interdisciplinary field of disaster research by presenting qualitative studies of disaster vulnerability from the perspective of scholars from the Global South, bringing a fresh and critical approach to English speaking social sciences qualitative researchers working on disaster risks in a number of fields, such as geography, anthropology, sociology, political science and environmental studies.
Author(s): Gabriela Vera-Cortés, Jesús Manuel Macías-Medrano
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 328
City: Cham
Foreword
Contents
1 Disasters and Neoliberalism
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Qualitative and Quantitative Data on the Influence of Neoliberalism on Social Vulnerability to Disasters
1.3 Aim of the Book
1.4 First Part: Social Vulnerability to Disasters in Urban Spaces
1.5 Second Part: Social Vulnerability to Disasters in Rural Contexts
References
Part ISocial Vulnerability to Disasters in Urban Contexts
2 Disasters as a Social Relapse in Neoliberal Capitalism. Two Cases Analyzed in Developed Countries
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Conceptual Approach: Disasters and Neoliberalism
2.2.1 Neoliberalism and Disaster Increase
2.3 Cases of Disasters
2.3.1 Flooding Case of River Serchio, Tuscan Region, Italy
2.3.2 Case Effects of Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas, USA 2007
2.4 Concluding
References
3 Flood Management Through Financial Cost Transfer Schemes in Mexico City
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Background and Transitions Toward Risk Transfer
3.3 LGPC and Fonden, Vehicles for Financial Risk Transfer
3.4 Contingency Insurance in Mexico City
3.5 Final Remarks
References
4 Social Vulnerability: Learnings from the September 19, 2017, Earthquake in Mexico City
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Seismic Activity in the Lake City, An Impending, Foretold Hazard
4.3 Social Vulnerability in Mexico City Due to Seismic Activity
4.4 The Neoliberal City and the Increase of Social Vulnerability
4.5 Conclusions
References
5 “On the Banks of the Rio Bravo…”: Social Construction and Perception of Flood Risk in Irregular Settlements
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Risk in Irregular Settlements in a Neoliberal Context
5.2.1 Social Construction and Perception of Risk
5.2.2 Irregular Settlements and Risk
5.2.3 The Neoliberal Space Reorganization: From the State to Organized Crime
5.3 Methodology
5.4 Flood Risk in the Lower Rio Bravo and Irregular Settlements
5.4.1 Flood Risk Management in the Lower Rio Bravo
5.4.2 The Rafael Ramírez and Bosques del Río Colonias
5.4.3 Breaches and Dips in the Rio Bravo Flood Control Levee
5.5 Flood Risk According to Two Actors and a Quasi-Character
5.5.1 Risk According to the Settlers
5.5.2 Risk According to the State Actors
5.6 Conclusions
References
6 Temporary Shelters and Health Services for Older Adults in Floods in the Metropolis of Monterrey
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Relation to Social Vulnerability
6.3 The Situation of the Shelters and the Necessary Social, and Health Care Support
6.4 Methodology
6.5 The Geography of the Shelters When Coping with Floods. Results
6.6 Conclusions and Discussion
References
Part IISocial Vulnerability to Disasters in Rural Contexts
7 Spatial Reconfiguration and Relocations After Disasters in Rural Contexts: The Case of Tacotalpa, Tabasco
7.1 Introduction: Relocations from Development and from Disasters
7.2 Methodology
7.3 Spatial Reconfiguration in the Grijalva Basin: Historical Context and the Present in Tacotalpa, Tabasco
7.3.1 Logging
7.3.2 Coffee Production
7.3.3 Grijalva River Commission, 1951–1987
7.4 The Experience of the Inhabitants of Francisco I. Madero Primera Sección
7.5 The Disaster in Tacotalpa
7.6 Negotiating the Relocation in Nuevo Madero, Tacotalpa
7.6.1 Benefits of Relocation According to the Population of Nuevo Madero
7.6.2 Difficulties in the Relocation Faced by the Population of Nuevo Madero
7.7 Final Considerations
References
8 Human Relocations in Guerrero After the September 2013 Disaster Emergency: A Non-preventive Neoliberal Response
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Conceptual Theoretical Framework
8.3 Cyclones in Guerrero: Cyclones in a Context of Vulnerability and Risk
8.3.1 Tropical Storm Manuel, September 2013
8.4 Relocations in Guerrero: Acapulco, Centro and Montaña
8.4.1 Acapulco
8.4.2 Central Region and Mountain of Guerrero
8.5 Relocation Accounts
8.6 Conclusions
References
9 Vulnerability, Management of Volcanic Risk and Neoliberalism in Colima
9.1 A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Volcanic Risk as a Social Construct
9.2 The Configuration of Risk in Volcanic Communities
9.2.1 Intersections of the Social with Volcanic Activity
9.3 Preventive Human Relocation from Volcanic Risk in a Neoliberal Context
9.4 Conclusions
References
10 It is Not the Rivers Fault: A Reflection About the Construction of Disasters in Brazil and Mexico
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Institutional Omission: The Disasters at the Madeira River in Rondônia and the Doce River in Minas Gerais, Brazil
10.3 Mexico: The Flood of 1999
10.4 Final Considerations
References
11 Tabasco: Between Hydraulic Plans and Floods. Disasters and Human Rights
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Tabasco’s Historic and Economic Development
11.3 Disasters and Conagua
11.4 Tabasco’s Hydrological Programs
11.4.1 Comprehensive Flood Control Program (PICI 2003–2007)
11.4.2 Tabasco Comprehensive Water Plan (PHIT 2008–2012)
11.4.3 Hydrological Project to Protect the Public from Floods and Improve Water Use (PROHTAB 2013)
11.5 Collateral Damage of Hydraulic Plans
11.6 Damage to the Population, But What About Their Rights?
11.7 Conclusion
References
12 Water and Hills in the Indigenous Worldview and the Fight for the Defense of Natural Resources in the Sierra Norte de Puebla
12.1 Sierra Norte de Puebla
12.2 Water in the Mesoamerican Worldview
12.3 World Knowledge: Nahua Conceptions About Nature
12.4 “The Serranos Defend Our Culture and Our Nature”
12.5 The Fight for Malinaltepetl, in Acaxochitlán, Hidalgo
12.6 Recap
References
13 Social Capital and Disasters. Facing Natural Hazards in the Nahua Sierra-Costa in Michoacan, Mexico
13.1 Vulnerability and Social Capital in the Nahua Sierra-Costa in Michoacan
13.2 The Notion of Social Capital
13.2.1 Social Capital and Disasters
13.2.2 Social Capital and Public Policies
13.3 The Nahua Coast: The Configuration of Territory
13.3.1 Community Organization
13.3.2 Social Vulnerability: Dispossession, Neglect, and Violence
13.3.3 Hydro-Meteorological Hazards in the Nahua Territory
13.4 Methodological Elements: Structures, Actors, and Relations in the Context of Risk
13.4.1 Stage 1. Sociocultural Organization and Risk
13.4.2 Stage 2. Analysis of Actors
13.4.3 Stage 3. Reflections and Response Capacity
13.4.4 Information Analysis
13.5 Communities, The State and Institutional Gaps
13.5.1 Governmental Programs and the Loss of Social Capital
13.6 Social Capital and Resistance in the Communities
13.6.1 Mobility Strategies and Access to Territory
13.6.2 Monitoring of Local Indicators in Risk Areas
13.6.3 Traditional Community Organization
13.6.4 Voluntary Collective Work
13.6.5 Relations and Alliances with External Actors and Institutions
13.7 Public Policies and Social Vulnerability
13.8 Final Reflections
References
Index
