An investigation of factors affecting the marginalized communities in disasters from an intersection perspective: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Disasters have different effects on different people. Natural and man-made disasters have ravaged Sri Lanka on several occasions, disproportionately affecting the socially excluded and marginalized people who represent the lower positions of the society. When it comes to the treatment of marginalized people in disasters, the primary rule is that everyone, regardless of their differences, should have the same privileges and rights in the pre to post disaster phases. Building disaster-resilient communities has become a top priority for crisis management organizations around the world in recent years, as resilient communities are more likely to incur less losses and recover more swiftly in the case of a disaster. To improve a society's resilience, however, one must first create a baseline, or a starting point from which to compare communities. However, there has been fewer studies of the literature on the extent of social exclusion experienced by Sri Lanka's marginalized or the excluded population during the disasters. This research uses a Systematic Literature Review to synthesize the context of marginalization experienced during disasters in Sri Lanka, drawing on examples and models from other countries. Data was acquired utilizing two databases, as well as scanning the grey literature. The PRISMA model was used for the screening process of the literature. Studies conducted on marginalization, marginalization during disasters, published in English, were selected by the reviewer. Furthermore, the VOS viewer data mining tool was used for developing a network map of keywords of the selected literatures to identify the most investigated areas around the concept of marginalization during disasters. Of 2072 articles published between 2016 and 2021, 37 articles have been included and reviewed in this study. In order to identify a socially excluded marginalized community during disasters, six significant vulnerable parameters were eventually identified. The review describes how marginalization accelerates as a result of various overlapping vulnerabilities, and how these marginalized groups are underrepresented in the disaster cycle and decision- making processes as a result of disaster planning, impact, response, and recovery.