Conclusion: Resilience for Whom?

Abstract

This chapter constitutes the final call to action, asking policy makers, emergency managers, disaster professionals, and other interested parties to take a closer look at the role that current policies around disasters play in creating and perpetuating injustice. As the previous chapters bring to light, disaster recovery policies and programs have routinely and repeatedly failed to prioritize human rights and failed to acknowledge the dynamic pressures and complex history of disaster risk creation in the United States. The prevailing narratives surrounding climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction, both extremely pressing in the current fiscal and environmental climate, have been willfully colorblind, perpetuating existing inequalities while fostering a climate of blame. The chapter argues that the definition and framing of resilience utilized by policy makers, professionals, and communities cannot be value neutral; the question must always be asked: resilience for whom?