Socionatural disasters reveal the different vulnerabilities and risks of stricken areas; this is why the control of these situations at public policy level has a direct impact on the perception of risk and the significance of the experience of affected people. On May 2, 2008, Chile experienced the eruption of Chaitén volcano, located in the city of Chaitén, Los Lagos Region. The volcanoeruption and the overflow of a river destroyed the city and public actions for the evacuation and subsequent return of local people disrupted social systems and daily relationships at public and private level. This generatedcollapses within work and family structures and changes in the relationship between the State and citizens. Through the use of qualitative strategies, the paper analyzes the Chaitén case by focusing on the experience and significance of such a disaster on the impact at territorial identity level, including the evaluation of public policies and the collective actions of risk confrontation generated by the inhabitants themselves.
Author Biographies
Ana María Ugarte Caviedes, Universidad Católica Silva Henríquez
Psychologist, Master’s student in Social Sciences, University of Chile. Professor, Department of Psychology, Silva Henríquez Catholic University. Email: amuc@u.uchile.cl
Marcela Andrea Salgado Vargas, Universidad de Chile
Sociologist, MA in Environmental Management and Planning, University of Chile. Email: salgado.marcela@gmail.com
Ugarte Caviedes, A. M., & Salgado Vargas, M. A. (2014). Emergent subjects: collective acts of resistance and risk confrontation in the face of disasters; the case of Chaitén, Chile. Revista INVI, 29(80), 143–168. Retrieved from https://revistaderechoambiental.uchile.cl/index.php/INVI/article/view/62585
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