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Blaming women, minorities for natural disasters
Disaster is indiscriminate to its victims, just as tsunamis are indifferent to gender, race or religion.
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Residents salvage belongings after an earthquake and tsunami hit Palu on Sulawesi island on September 29, 2018. (AFP/Muhammad Rifki)
D
isaster is indiscriminate to its victims, just as tsunamis are indifferent to gender, race or religion. However, vulnerable and minority groups face harder challenges besides the general effect of the disaster. They are women, gender minorities, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities, indigenous people and religious minorities. In some cases, a disaster can even become the justification for the rise of intolerance.
A study from Oxfam International in 2005 found women accounted for around 70 percent of deaths in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. In some villages, women were worst hit because they were waiting on beaches for their fishermen husbands to return, or at home looking after their children.
But generally, strict gender roles have discouraged women and girls from learning to swim or climb trees. The duty of women as caregivers often compels them to stay at home and be responsible for children, the elderly and the sick, which made it difficult for the women to be evacuated to a safe area.
Life after disaster can increase women’s vulnerability. In Indonesia, where women often depend on the husband and/or father, the loss of men forced them to be both caregivers and seek income, increasing their emotional and material workload. Displacement, stress and trauma typically follow a disaster, and may also intensify preexisting risk factors for domestic abuse. Such conditions make women susceptible to post disaster stress symptoms.
