What we measure matters: the case of the missing development data in Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction monitoring

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030’s (SFDRR) framing moved away from disaster risk as a natural phenomenon to the examination of the inequality and injustice at the root of human vulnerability to hazards and disasters. Yet, its achievements have not seriously challenged the long-established capitalist systems of oppression that hinder the development leading to disaster risk creation. This article is an exploratory mapping exercise of and a collective reflection on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and SFDRR indicators¾and their use in measuring progress towards disaster risk reduction (DRR). We highlight that despite the rhetoric of vulnerability, the measurement of progress towards DRR remains event/hazard-centric. We argue that the measurement of disaster risk could be greatly enhanced by the integration of development data in future iterations of global DRR frameworks for action

The role of public and private sectors in disaster capitalism: an international overview

This contributing paper explores the role and the contribution of the public and private sectors in the (re)production and accumulation of disaster risks from a disaster capitalism optic, both in the academic literature and in the policy realm. This study responds to this gap and provides a preliminary international overview of the root causes, behaviours, and consequences of disaster capitalism, its contribution to disaster risk creation, and its role in the systemic nature of risk. The study analyses diverse ex-ante and ex-post experiences of disaster capitalism in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, India, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States, within a timespan that goes from European colonial times until the current Covid-19 pandemic. This study concludes that the relation of disaster capitalism with processes of disaster risk creation and role in the systemic nature of risk are of fundamental importance. The paper indicates that when social interests are not well protected or exposed to market turbulences, unscrupulous profiteers can take advantage or destroy them, regardless of the consequences for the majority of the people and the planet’s ecosystems. The researchers recommend transdisciplinarity and other approaches (such as action-research initiatives and design-thinking) that allow for a better understanding of the social dimension of the systemic nature of risk