“The perfect storm”: internal displacement due to disasters during the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin American and the Caribbean, in terms of gender

This paper analyzes the gender impact of climate-based disasters that occurred in Latin American and Caribbean countries during 2020, in a context dominated by the global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Published on July 18, 2022

Roberto Ariel Abeldaño Zuñiga | lanid, IDPs, Disaster, Health, Americas (inc Caribbean)

Argentina. Alud en la ciudad de Tartagal. 2009 © Roberto Ariel Abeldaño Zuñiga

During 2020, more than 2.7 million people internally displaced by disasters were registered across 16 countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region, temporarily coinciding with the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of climate events on society results from the concurrent effects of historical, social, political, and economic variables, profoundly differentiated by gender, and not only due to environmental conditions. If we frame this in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, a singularly adverse scenario emerges, with great relevance and consequences for the population of the LAC region. Therefore, it is necessary to show the distinct impacts faced by internally displaced persons in this region during much of the year 2020; and then reflect on possible solutions which encompass a gendered approach to IDPs.

Dr Roberto Ariel Abeldaño Zuñiga is a full professor at the Universidad de la Sierra Sur, in Oaxaca, Mexico. He has a Doctorate in Demography from the National University of Córdoba, Argentina, and has trained in Argentina, Brazil and Chile. He has studied disasters at the Latin American level: the earthquake in Chile in 2010, the avalanche in Tartagal (Argentina) in 2009, the earthquake in Mexico in 2017. He has been a consultant for United Nations agencies such as UNFPA, UNDP, IOM and Banco World. His lines of research are related to environmental health, disasters and public health and mental health in disaster situations.

This paper was written by the author during his Summer Fellowship on Internal Displacement at the Internal Displacement Research Programme (IDRP) at the Refugee Law Initiative. The Fellowship was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, on behalf of the UKRI Global Challenge Research Fund, as part of the funded project “Interdisciplinary Network on Internal Displacement, Conflict and Protection” (AH/T005351/1).

Download RID Working Paper No. 28 (in Spanish Only)

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