Study calls for major overhaul of social work education to strengthen disaster preparedness

An international study has called for a paradigm shift in disaster management by positioning social workers at the centre of disaster risk reduction. Governments and universities have been urged to move beyond conventional relief work and prepare professionals to engage in policy-making, climate adaptation and community resilience.

Published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Asian Social Work and Policy Review, the study, ‘Emergence of Disaster Social Work as a New Frontier Setting in Macro Social Work Practice,’ contends that although social workers have traditionally played an important role in disaster response, their contributions remain largely confined to post-disaster relief and psycho-social support, while their potential in disaster planning, governance and risk reduction remains underutilised.

The research was carried out by Joice K. Joseph of the Loyola College of Social Sciences, Thiruvananthapuram; Renjith Reghuvaran, librarian, Department of History, Kerala University; and A.P. Pradeepkumar, retired Professor of Geology.

Macro-level engagement

Using a bibliometric analysis of global disaster social work literature indexed in Scopus and analysed through tools used for bibliographic analysis and text mining, the researchers found that social work practice has overwhelmingly focussed on micro- and mezzo-level interventions such as counselling and rehabilitation after disasters. However, macro-level engagement in disaster risk reduction has received comparatively less attention.

The study identifies 100 potential areas where social workers can contribute to disaster risk reduction through policy advocacy, climate adaptation, environmental justice, livelihood recovery, governance, education and institutional planning.

The paper places particular emphasis on Asia, observing that the region faces disproportionate disaster risks because of dense populations, rapid urbanisation and increasing climate-induced hazards. It also points out that decentralised governance and community-based disaster risk reduction can be strengthened by integrating social workers into planning and policy processes, rather than limiting them to emergency response.

The study also highlights India’s long but relatively under-recognised history of disaster social work. It traces the country’s earliest documented intervention to the Tata Institute of Social Sciences’ rehabilitation work among refugees following the Partition in 1947. It also chronicles the institute’s subsequent involvement in the Mumbai slum fire, Maharashtra drought, Andhra Pradesh cyclone, the Latur earthquake and the Bhopal gas tragedy, where social workers conducted extensive household surveys that later formed the basis for World Bank-supported rehabilitation programmes.

Considering the inadequate representation of disaster management in most social work programmes, the researchers also emphasise the need to integrate disaster management into curriculum.