Mainstreaming Marginalized Groups and Their Capacities

Abstract

As discussed in chapter 4, some people among marginalized groups within society may be more vulnerable than others because they are deprived access to resources that are available to others with more power. The needs of those marginalized people are less considered in actions to reduce the risk of disaster. Such an argument is not new as it dates back to pioneer works by Wisner (1978) and Blaikie and Brookfield (1987). However, it is somehow overlooked by contemporary researchers, policy makers, and practitioners when it comes to DRR. This, despite the growing gap observed worldwide between the poorest and the richest, between people regularly affected by natural hazards and those who have never been concerned, between people and governments able to deploy an increasingly large arsenal of measures and those unable to resort to even the most basic strategies.