Space and a Damaged Place: Philippine Migrant Transnational Engagement Following the Guinsaugon Landslide Disaster. Issue 6 (5th June 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Loebach, Peter
• Is Part Of: Population space and place. Volume 22:Issue 6(2016)
• Page Start: 526
• Page End: 538
• Publication Date: 2015-06-05
• Subjects: natural disasters -- the state -- weak state -- migrant transnationalism -- environment -- hometown associations -- natural hazards; Population geography -- Periodicals; Population -- Periodicals; 304.6
• DOI: 10.1002/psp.1937
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1544-8444

Abstract

Abstract: This study utilises a range of qualitative data sources to investigate migrant transnational activity occurring in response to a landslide disaster event that affected the Philippine village of Guinsaugon in February 2006. The disaster provoked multiple responses from village emigrants. A first wave of migrants returned to assist kin members directly affected by the disaster. A second wave of migrants arrived between 1 week and 3 months following the disaster to assist the community as a whole. One aiding organisation was formed by returned migrants who organised in their home community following the disaster. The ATHena Project: Advocacy for Transparency and Honesty was a civil society organisation that promoted accountability in the donation distribution process and also initiated political change. These activities were made possible by recent advances in information and` communication technologies and by the specific form of the weak Philippine state that enables the Philippine diaspora to emerge as a powerful social group. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.