Participatory forensic investigations of disasters (PARFORIN): Including people in collective disaster risk analysis through social cartography

The Forensic Investigations of Disasters (FORIN) guide provides important approaches for research and extension purposes in order to understand and reduce disaster risks. However, FORIN lacks participatory methods to put people at the center of collective disaster risk analysis. This research developed a participatory methodology for FORIN (Participatory forensic investigations of disasters (PARFORIN)). The FORIN’s retrospective longitudinal analysis (FORIN-RLA) was combined with mixed research methods to analyze four main aspects of FORIN: (1) the triggering event(s), (2) population growth, (3) urban and rural land use patterns and (4) institutional and governance elements.

Community participation has not only heightened awareness of local knowledge but also revealed perceptions of risks they face, moving beyond a static understanding of the physical environment. We uncovered practical implications, including the co-occurrence of hazardous and triggering events, the significance of local experiences to comprehend institutional and governance elements, and FORIN’s potential for capacity-building, yielding valuable insights for disaster risk reduction (DRR). Although participants identified multi-hazards, especially those associated with dam mining and flooding, some risk drivers (such as deforestation), vulnerabilities (drug trafficking, for instance) and capacity aspects, it was not possible to include all elements of disaster risk on the map as “final product”.