Isabelle Anguelovski (Paris, 1978) devoted a large part of her academic career to investigating environmental inequalities and, in particular, a derivative linked to natural disasters: how reconstruction after these disasters can benefit a few companies and harm the most poor. or marginalized groups.
These days, Anguelovski observes the first steps of reconstruction in Valencia and warns against the examples of corruption, speculation and displacement of vulnerable populations that followed disasters like Katrina in New Orleans, in 2005, or the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, a year later. Before. Urgency is generally a pretext, he asserts, to reduce the level of control during recruitment, as happened with the pandemic.
Holder of a doctorate in urban planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Anguelovski has been a professor at the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technologies (ICTA) of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) since 2011. In addition, she is director of the Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability (BCNUEJ).
How are economic and social inequalities conditioned during the impact of a natural disaster?
There are several types of unequal impacts in climate disasters. The first is that they tend to affect vulnerable groups more generally (working classes, migrants, elderly people, children, etc.), who are those who have the least resources to protect themselves, but who are also those who have the fewer resources. to adapt to future disasters, and finally, these tend to be most affected by displacement associated with climate adaptation projects.
During the Valencia floods, it was noted, for example, that majority of deaths were elderly.
Yes. First of all, on a physical level, the elderly and children are the most vulnerable. But we also saw how workers in small stores or industrial zones were not able to flee in time.
You have carried out extensive field work to analyze how reconstruction is carried out after these climatic disasters and why the result is always uneven.
What scientific research carried out in previous cases shows is that very often, reconstruction is not satisfactory, either environmentally or socially. In Phuket, Thailand, one of the areas most devastated by the 2004 tsunami, the trauma of the disaster was used as a pretext or tool to displace fishing communities who owned their small businesses and boats. Beaches were privatized and luxury resorts were built. This is called disaster capitalism.
This concept, in English disaster capitalisminvented by Naomi Klein in her book The shock doctrine. What is he referring to?
How these disasters and the trauma they generate are used to reduce public services, privatize infrastructure and give power to private companies and investors in the reconstruction of these areas, instead of thinking about the common well-being and groups the most vulnerable. . This happens with climate disasters, but it also applies to wars, as we saw in Iraq, with North American companies making millions of dollars during reconstruction.
The main example of this is the recovery in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Because?
What happened there was the neoliberalization of the reconstruction process. In terms of housing, much public housing has been demolished in some areas and rebuilt as mixed, private-use housing, meaning that a portion of the mostly black working-class residents have not was able to return. A public hospital was closed, low-cost workers from outside the region were hired, local businesses were not given priority…
As paradoxical as it may seem, certain economic sectors may see an opportunity in reconstruction.
Clear. There are big companies, starting with construction companies, that do a lot of business and get a lot of profit after a climate disaster. They are taking advantage of the urgency and the need to rebuild immediately, to everything must be done nowas is the case, for example, with infrastructure protection. This is proven in Valencia, where we end up seeing million dollar contracts for companies found guilty of the Gürtel plot. This is also part of disaster capitalism. Another sector that generally benefits from this model is tourism, as seen in New Orleans or Sri Lanka.
On the other hand, we have sectors of small businesses which could also benefit, such as those which offer flood adaptation solutions depending on the nature of the territories: architecture, gardening, design… Or even public sectors like emergencies, which should emerge reinforced.
In Spain, a recent example of companies and commission agents taking advantage of the emergency has been the pandemic.
The administration is lowering the bar and level of hiring oversight and scrutiny during these crises. Urgency serves as an excuse. It’s the same, except that covid was a health emergency and these others are climate emergencies.
Beyond confirming that there are companies doing business, are these events also fertile ground for corruption?
The use is multiple due to the urgency and the lesser control and audit, which we try to justify by the circumstances and the need to act quickly. The massive flow of resources and aid also means that funds can be misappropriated. Many decisions are opaque, which can benefit some companies and particularly harm the most vulnerable groups, as they have neither the capacity, political capital, nor time to demand more transparency or accountability. All of this gets worse in the absence of clear post-disaster rebuilding and hiring protocols.
In Italy, with the L’Aquila earthquake, some entrepreneurs made entrance hall authorities inflated reconstruction costs or used already degraded materials or techniques that did not improve buildings’ resilience to future earthquakes. It is estimated that almost 500 million euros were paid to companies linked to organized crime…
Some of the cases you mention, like New Orleans or Sri Lanka, may seem far from the Spanish reality, where the welfare state is stronger and regulations are stronger. Do you still think the risks are similar?
The risks are similar, the difference is the magnitude. In Paiporta, for example, the population is aging and there is only one health center. Perhaps we will not see its privatization and other hospitals will not be closed, but the current needs for care in a collapsed and reduced system may increase the health vulnerability of the municipality. People affected by flooding are at high risk of death within 60 days of a flood, due to heart and respiratory problems. There can be a strong inequality between those who are well cared for and those who are not.
Have you studied other paradigmatic examples of disaster capitalism?
In some areas affected by flooding and which may remain attractive, climate gentrification often occurs. In Florida and Boston, real estate developers built resilient buildings (raised, surrounded by waterproof sidewalks, with naturalized and restored sidewalks) which ended up being reserved for wealthy families who could afford them. Many insurance companies also take advantage of this to increase their annual amounts. In Florida, they can reach $12,000 per year.
In flooded areas of Florida and Boston, real estate developers built resilient buildings that ended up being intended for wealthy families who could afford them.
Regardless, one of the UN’s priorities for disaster risk reduction, in the setting called Sendaiit’s “building better” after these events. This can’t be avoided, can it?
Clear. It should not be possible to rebuild as before. The question is which areas you grant the right to rebuild and which you do not. This is an important ethical question. Also in New Orleans, after Katrina, a map of areas was created, the Green Dot Map, with the Lower Ninth Ward with a high black population, in which construction was no longer allowed because it was a flood zone and became a park. However, there were upper class areas and white areas in which their neighbors had the right to rebuild their homes. In other words, if you belong to a group that “doesn’t matter,” you are not allowed to go home.
In Spain we have cases of expropriations of houses and neighborhoods to avoid future floods, the most recent being Ontinyent after DANA 2019. It is likely that it will now be raised in Horta Sud. How to undertake such a process?
We must ensure that workers have access to transport infrastructure to go to work, and that there are the same resources in schools or green and leisure spaces. For the moment, it seems that things are going well in terms of aid. There is the 50% advance to rebuild and pay for damages and the debt moratorium. The problem will be that there will be no barriers to accessing help.
This must be another source of inequality.
Access to aid is still considered a major barrier for vulnerable populations. We need to invest heavily in town hall and emergency service technicians who go door to door, neighbor to neighbor, to ensure that everyone can fill out the forms. Let it be an equitable reconstruction on an administrative and logistical level. During Hurricane Harvey in Houston, lawsuits were filed over the disproportionate allocation of funds to wealthier areas at the expense of lower-income neighborhoods. Ultimately, the Ministry of Housing acknowledged in 2022 that the criteria discriminated by race and origin, leading to reviews and adjustments to allocations. This may be a concern for Valencia.
