Denboy
Kudejira,
University
of
Cape
Town;
Christopher
Mabeza,
University
of
Zimbabwe,
and
Liboster
Mwadzingeni,
Midlands
State
University;
University
of
South
Africa
But
not
all
losses
and
damage
can
be
measured
in
financial
terms.
Some
of
the
most
profound
impacts
of
climate-induced
disasters
are
emotional,
cultural
and
social,
affecting
how
people
feel,
relate
to
each
other
and
think
about
their
world.
We
are
scientists
who
research
environmental
hazards,
climate
change
impacts
and
development
practice.
We
wanted
to
find
out
what
recovery
meant
for
survivors
of
Tropical
Cyclone
Idai,
which
hit
eastern
Zimbabwe’s
Chimanimani
District
for
five
days
in
2019,
turning
mountains
into
mudslides
and
leaving
hundreds
of
people
dead.
We
interviewed
community
members,
including
survivors
and
local
leaders,
and
held
discussions
with
government
officials
and
aid
organisations.
We
also
spent
time
in
affected
communities,
observing
daily
life
and
listening
to
how
people
spoke
about
the
disaster
and
its
aftermath.
This
allowed
us
to
capture
not
just
what
had
happened,
but
what
it
meant
to
those
who’d
lived
through
it.
Our
research
found
that
survivors
of
climate
disasters
didn’t
only
speak
of
losing
their
houses
and
other
material
goods.
They
also
talked
of
grief,
dislocation,
loss
of
places
of
cultural
significance,
and
a
lingering
sense
that
life
would
never
return
to
what
it
once
was.
These
experiences
are
harder
to
quantify,
but
no
less
important.
If
recovery
efforts
overlook
these
less
visible
losses,
they
leave
deep
social
and
emotional
wounds
unaddressed.
Disaster
recovery
is
not
just
about
rebuilding
material
objects
or
infrastructure.
It
is
about
rebuilding
lives.
The
hidden
losses
Tropical
Cyclone
Idai
affected
over
3
million
people
across
Malawi,
Mozambique
and
Zimbabwe.
In
many
places,
it
destroyed
whole
communities.
In
eastern
Zimbabwe’s
Chimanimani
District
hundreds
died,
many
people
went
missing,
and
thousands
were
displaced
from
their
ancestral
lands.
Cyclone
Idai,
2019.
Al
Jazeera.
The
cost
of
the
economic
losses
and
damage
was
more
than
US$2
billion.
This
amount
does
not
include
the
non-economic
losses
–
the
damage
to
people’s
sense
of
belonging,
identity,
relationships
and
emotional
well-being
that
cannot
be
measured
by
money.
Our
findings
show
that
Cyclone
Idai
caused
four
major
types
of
non-economic
loss:
Loss
of
life
and
lasting
trauma
The
cyclone
caused
floods
in
the
middle
of
the
night,
while
people
were
sleeping,
leaving
them
little
chance
to
escape
to
higher
ground
before
their
houses
collapsed
or
were
washed
away.
Many
families
lost
loved
ones
and
said
that
grief
remained
a
constant
presence.
A
survivor
told
us:
What
changed
most
is
that
we
were
a
big
family,
but
we
lost
two
kids
due
to
the
cyclone.
That
alone
has
changed
our
lives
and
has
affected
us
very
much.
We
can
hardly
move
forward
because
of
these
bad
memories
that
we
still
have.
More
than
two
years
after
the
cyclone,
some
people
said
they
still
lived
with
injuries
that
prevented
them
from
working
or
living
as
they
once
did.
Mental
health
impacts,
including
anxiety,
insomnia
and
post-traumatic
stress,
are
widespread
yet
rarely
addressed
in
formal
recovery
efforts.
Loss
of
sense
of
place
and
belonging
Displacement
was
one
of
the
most
significant
consequences
of
the
tropical
cyclone.
Families
were
moved
to
temporary
camps
and,
later,
resettled
in
new
areas
that
were
often
very
different
from
their
original
homes.
For
example,
people
who
had
survived
by
farming
and
selling
bananas
were
moved
to
a
government
housing
compound
(Runyararo
village),
where
low
rainfall
makes
it
difficult
to
grow
the
fruit.
Their
new
area
also
has
no
tarred
roads
or
electricity,
yet
people
who
had
lived
in
urban
and
peri-urban
areas
were
moved
there.
For
many,
this
meant
more
than
just
relocation.
It
involved
losing
connection
to
ancestral
land,
familiar
environments
and
ways
of
life.
As
one
survivor
described,
it
felt
like
being
uprooted
not
just
physically,
but
emotionally
and
culturally.
Breakdown
of
social
networks
Before
the
cyclone,
communities
in
Chimanimani
were
tightly
connected
through
kinship,
shared
histories
and
mutual
support
systems.
The
disaster
fractured
these
networks
by
separating
families
and
neighbours.
One
survivor
said:
We
lost
our
younger
daughter
to
the
tropical
cyclone.
The
older
one
is
now
living
with
my
parents
in
another
village,
as
we
no
longer
have
space
…
Since
then,
we
have
been
helpless.
Well-intentioned
aid
agencies
had
various
ways
of
describing
the
cyclone
survivors
–
as
“victims”,
“directly
affected
people”
or
“beneficiaries
or
non-beneficiaries
of
disaster
aid”.
Our
research
found
that
using
different
labels
for
the
survivors
created
new
social
tensions
within
communities
that
were
already
under
strain.
Disruption
of
cultural
and
spiritual
life
Tropical
Cyclone
Idai
also
disrupted
cultural
practices
and
belief
systems.
Sacred
sites
were
destroyed,
and
burial
rituals,
which
are
deeply
significant
in
local
traditions,
could
not
always
be
properly
observed.
Bodies
were
handled
hastily
due
to
damaged
mortuaries,
the
absence
of
electricity,
and
acute
labour
shortages.
Some
people
were
buried
in
pairs,
which
is
against
the
Ndau
culture
of
the
area.
A
cultural
leader
said:
It
was
not
proper
to
bury
people
who
were
not
related,
who
did
not
share
a
totem,
in
one
grave.
Breaking
with
established
burial
customs
created
a
sense
of
spiritual
unease
and
disturbed
the
moral
and
cultural
order
that
helps
people
make
sense
of
life
and
death.
A
more
human
approach
to
disaster
response
Climate
change
has
been
shown
to
intensify
extreme
weather
events
like
Cyclone
Idai,
increasing
both
their
severity
and
impacts.
This
is
why
disaster
policies
matter,
including
what
governments
and
agencies
do
after
extreme
weather
catastrophes.
Our
research
shows
that
disaster
response
must
go
beyond
financial
compensation
and
physical
reconstruction.
It
must
support
survivors
with
the
emotional
and
non-material
dimensions
of
well-being.
Most
importantly,
it
should
involve
affected
communities
in
decision-making,
ensuring
that
their
experiences
and
priorities
are
recognised.
This
is
also
a
matter
of
justice.
Whose
losses
are
acknowledged?
Whose
voices
are
heard,
and
who
gets
support?
The
stories
from
Chimanimani
remind
us
that
extreme
weather
and
climate
disasters
tear
apart
the
very
fabric
of
life.
When
attention
is
focused
mainly
on
what
can
be
seen
and
measured,
other
forms
of
suffering
remain
invisible.
But
these
“invisible”
losses
shape
how
people
recover.
Emotional
trauma
can
affect
livelihoods.
Loss
of
social
networks
can
weaken
resilience.
Disconnection
from
place
and
culture
can
make
it
harder
to
rebuild
a
meaningful
life.
Listening
to
these
experiences
is
essential
for
building
recovery
efforts
that
are
both
effective
and
humane.
Denboy
Kudejira,
Post-doctoral
fellow
in
the
African
Synthesis
Centre
for
Climate
Change,
Environment
and
Development
(ASCEND)
research
centre,
University
of
Cape
Town;
Christopher
Mabeza,
Part-time
Lecturer
in
the
Department
of
Peace,
Security
and
Society
and
Climate
Change
Consultant,
University
of
Zimbabwe,
and
Liboster
Mwadzingeni,
Research
Fellow
in
the
Tugwi-Mukosi
Multidisciplinary
Research
Institute,
Midlands
State
University;
University
of
South
Africa
This
article
is
republished
from
The
Conversation
under
a
Creative
Commons
license.
Read
the
original
article.