Across the globe ‘irregular’ or ‘undocumented’ migrants can be found working as domestic servants, farm labourers or street cleaners, doing jobs commonly viewed as dirty, demeaning or dangerous. Prior to the tsunami, Burmese migrant workers in the coastal areas of…
Tamil Nadu Speakers at the symposium[1] noted that the first response from the Government of India and the Tamil Nadu state government to the needs of the 2.73 million people affected by the giant waves was hesitant. As initial rescue…
When the tsunami inundated the small village in which she lives, Mariammal lost her catamaran and fishing nets. Her village – inhabited mostly by Irula tribal people – is on a small strip of land between Pulicat lagoon (60 km…
A recent survey by the Fritz Institute in the tsunami-affected areas of India and Sri Lanka probed beneficiary perceptions of the effectiveness of aid. Preliminary results indicate that affected populations in India tend to have a more positive perception of…
This archipelago of some 1,200 coral islands has the lowest high point of any country in the world at just 2.4 metres. While the number of casualties was remarkably low, the waves caused massive devastation nationwide: 108 people are dead…
While the international community’s attention was focused on the damage caused to the countries in South Asia, little attention was paid to the tsunami effect on the western side of the Indian Ocean, about six thousand kilometres from the epicentre.…
The tsunami struck just as the drought was coming to an end and livelihoods were beginning to recover from these multiple shocks. It affected large parts of the coast, particularly a stretch of 650 kilometres of coastline in the Puntland…
The Centre for Rural Development at Berlin’s Humboldt University recently conducted a study on the adaptation of rural livelihoods to structural and climatic changes in western Mongolia, and found that migration is one of the most common strategies implemented in…
This issue will go online and to print while the UK is still gradually easing its lockdown. We know that many of our readers will be living and working in very difficult circumstances, and we extend to you our warmest…
Much of the attention paid to the Western Sahara conflict, particularly from the perspective of refugee and forced migration studies, has understandably focused on the Sahrawi refugee camps near Tindouf, Algeria. These camps were set up in 1975 following the…