Demanding Disaster Justice: Social Movement Framing and Mobilization after Super Typhoon Yolanda

Abstract

The mobilization for disaster justice in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda provides an important case for analyzing the process of demanding disaster justice. In this article I highlight how the framing of disaster justice by People Surge, a grassroots organization of Yolanda survivors based in Tacloban City, focuses on two demands in the aftermath of the disaster: a distributive demand for disaster aid and a critique against the social contract with the state by claiming that its actions in the aftermath of the disaster constituted “criminal negligence.” I also show that the framing of disaster justice was affected by shifts in the political opportunity available to People Surge.

KEYWORDS: DISASTER JUSTICE • SOCIAL MOVEMENTS • DISASTER POLITICS • DISASTER RECONSTRUCTION • PEOPLE SURGE