Community experiences in the contribution of natural hazards management policies

Abstract

This work addresses the perspective of communities living in disaster risk areas, and highlights the values advocated and established by the population as pillars to guide more effective risk management policies. The feelings, memories, stories, perceptions and coexistence established between social actors and the threats imposed by the rains, the relief and the condition of social vulnerability are expressed. Understanding community experiences enables contact with social susceptibilities and recognition of the legitimacy of interactions established by social actors with the environment. These findings can indicate elements to minimize conflicts and contribute to a policy of territorial justice. As a data collection tool, a questionnaire was applied to 136 individuals living in areas of mass movements, and 12 in-depth interviews with residents of landslide and flood areas, in a municipality in southern Brazil, followed by content and statistical analysis. The sense of belonging to the site, adaptations and mitigation strategies, the importance of the community network, and the belief in the Divine and disbelief in the institutional structures operating in the field of disasters reflects part of the results of this survey. Social vulnerability is present and the distancing of communities from the strategies adopted by public entities draws attention, demonstrating the failures of management policies in areas at risk. Measures to protect, relocate, control the use and occupation of natural risk areas may mitigate the consequences on the lives of families if the public authorities consider their histories, values and experiences of the communities.