Emotions matter: Creating long-term emotional resilience in contexts of acute and chronic flood risk

Abstract

In a context where disaster risk has become chronic and interconnected, this contribution explores new pathways for creating long-term (emotional) resilience to acute and chronic flood risk. I show that emotions matter as part of devising community-based and formal educational strategies for disaster risk preparedness. Here, I draw on lessons learned from participatory and community-based research with 30 young people living with recurring seasonal flood risk in the urban periphery of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Results showed that participants tended to ‘normalise’ risk while using humour to engage with difficult emotions. Rather than producing narratives of despair and hopelessness, many of the young people also embraced ideas of ‘critical hope’ and ‘collaborative solidarity’. Results indicated that with the tools at hand to acknowledge, validate and engage with the emotions of disaster risk, youth can develop and cultivate hope, improve individual coping behaviours, and recognise their agency without minimising or denying their experience. From a participatory researcher perspective, the research generated reflections on new ways of empowering communities to cope better with today’s ‘new normal’ of chronic and interconnected urban crises. I therefore developed the “EMPOWER” framework to guide interdisciplinary scholars and practitioners in developing reflective and collaborative peer- and intergenerational learning strategies. The framework can provide fundamental guidance to better attend to emotional resilience across the different temporal frames of disaster risk – from acute to chronic disaster risk as well as inter- and intragenerational memories.