The Fragile State of Disaster Response

Natural hazards often strike in conflict-affected societies, where the devastation is further compounded by the fragility of these societies and a complex web of myriad actors. To respond to disasters, aid, state, and societal actors enter the humanitarian arena, where they manoeuvre in the socio-political space to renegotiate power relations and gain legitimacy to achieve their goals by utilising authoritative and material resources. Post-conflict settings such as Burundi present a challenge for disaster response as actors are confronted with an uncertain transition period and the need to balance roles and capacity.

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