Beyond fear: The role of emotions in disaster risk reduction in the face of climate change

Abstract

Most studies and policy in disaster risk reduction have focused on either what people lack (their vulnerability or their capacities to deal with risk (their resilience). Few studies and decision-making processes have focused on the role of emotions in informal urban settings. However, the results of a four-year study including interviews, three international workshops, and 24 community-led initiatives of risk reduction in Cuba, Colombia, and Chile, shows that emotions play a fundamental role in the design and planning of grassroots initiatives. Anxiety, pride, anger, uncertainty, and awe are crucial in risk-related agency. These emotions help building leadership and engagement and are decisive in establishing empathy, trust, and legitimacy—all which constitute the basis for change towards social and environmental justice. Phenomenology can help address connections between emotions, agency, and space. To succeed, risk response frameworks must recognize the interplay between emotions, behaviors, and politics. • Emotions can be triggers of positive and meaningful political action in the building of disaster risk reduction strategies. • Fear, pride, anger, awe, anxiety, and uncertainty are emotions leading to the construction of democratic dialogues. • In the context of fragile democracies, activists use emotions not only to transfer information but also to influence others. • Activists mobilize emotions to achieve key aspects of disaster risk reduction, such as legitimacy, trust, and empathy.