The impact of natural disasters on the Roma community

Summary:

The research was conducted on two occasions, the first time in 2020 using the semi-structured method and information from the chat boot with a sample of 1000 respondents and the second time in October 2021 by a field survey with a sample of 31 families. The aim of the research is to examine natural disasters in the Roma community as well as whether local institutions react and do something about prevention. In some locations (Prokuplje, Šainovac, Kragujevac), the affected families do not receive answers even after the commission's assessment of compensation, while in others, the commission decides during the investigation that there are no grounds for compensation. One of the solutions that would help prevent and prevent natural disasters is for our community to participate in crisis headquarters in the future when such disasters occur because it is clear that this is a precondition for ensuring equal treatment of institutions. The floods also had a significant negative impact on health and the economy.

Keywords: Weather disasters, Roma community, Roma settlements, impact, cause of disasters

INTRODUCTION

An elemental disaster is an event caused by the action of natural forces that interrupts the normal course of life to the extent that exceeds the regular ability of the individual and the local community to recover without state assistance and causes material damage greater than the local government budget. The types of natural disasters that mostly affect the Roma community are floods and fires. Floods occur most often due to overflowing rivers, groundwater, ramparts, and bursting pipes. Roma is mostly settled in villages and on the outskirts of the city, mostly in these areas most often live the poor working class who can not provide a livelihood with the waste they generate. It is the damages that stop development and prevent the improvement of infrastructure. Due to the lack of adequate infrastructure, a large amount of mud ends up in the houses. The research that is being conducted is the result of natural disasters that have befallen the Roma community. By examining the impact of natural disasters in Roma communities, we want to get relevant data on how the disasters affected the Roma community, whether we worked on the prevention and prevention of these problems. From the previous causes of the research of 1000 respondents on which the ORS worked in 2020, we come to the data that local institutions did not do enough on this topic, especially in the context of Roma families who were flooded. It is important to examine the impact of bad weather on the Roma community, but also to examine systemic problems such as fires that resulted in a fatal outcome so that this research concludes that it is necessary to have Civil Protection Commissioners from the Roma community to work on prevention. and prevention of natural disasters. We believe that it is a good example of the practice for civil protection commissioners to be from Roma families in order to resolve the issue of natural disasters as soon as possible. There are several examples that show that the competent institutions do not react, some of the examples are the following:

• In Kraljevo, out of 150 flooded families, 80 families did not receive compensation;
• The flooded municipalities (Ljubovja, Arilje, Ub, Mionica, Šainovac, and Prokuplje) filed a report of damage to the competent institutions but did not receive agreements;
• In Kragujevac, the flooded families received a letter from the authorities that they had no grounds for compensation;
• In Nis, the authorities intervened selectively.

The competent institutions do not react even when it comes to the prevention and prevention of these problems. There are several examples, Kragujevac is one of the municipalities in which the competent institutions do nothing to prevent or prevent these problems. The problem of floods in Kragujevac has existed since 2018, and then the same problem occurs in 2019 and 2020. A similar situation is in Prokuplje, Leskovac and Nis, where there are natural disasters in the last three years, in which the authorities do nothing special. prevention.

Topic - the context of the object of measurement

METHOD

Aim of the research and hypotheses This research aimed to: examine the impact of weather and natural disasters on the Roma community, second: whether anything was done to prevent and prevent these problems, third: what are the proposals for further work and fourth, civil protection commissioners are necessary in order to involve the Roma community in decision-making concerning themselves. Given that at the beginning of 2021 there were weather disasters that negatively affected the health of Roma men and women, but also had a negative impact on the economy in which about 300 families were flooded and endangered, it is expected that these weather disasters had a negative impact and after a time period of 8-9 months. At the beginning of 2021, the Opre Roma Movement Serbia was in contact with municipalities in which certain families from Roma communities were flooded in order to present the situation around the sexes in which our compatriots found themselves. Concluded from these meetings, including the research we worked on, we came to the information that local institutions are not doing enough to prevent and prevent these problems. A solution that could help prevent and prevent natural disasters for the Roma community is civil protection commissioners who would react in such situations.

Sample and procedure: The target group of this research is the Roma community. The first survey in 2020/2021 included a sample of about 1000 respondents, ie 300 flooded and endangered families, on this occasion we used the method of interviews with the Roma community in locations affected by the weather. Locations (15) that were included in the first survey are Kraljevo, Leskovac, Ljubovija, Kragujevac, Sharlinac, Sainovac, Prokuplje, Nis, Arilje, Smederevska Palanka, Krupanj, Osecina, Koceljevo, Mionica, and Ub. The second survey was conducted in the field in October 2021. This time, a survey method with an individual approach was used in locations (5) Aleksinac, Nis, Leskovac, Prokuplje Vladicin Han, and Vranje, with a sample of 31 families.

Instruments: When researching this topic, we used several methods to collect data from respondents. The first method is an interview that was semi-structured, by phone and online. The interview is an adequate research method in this case, given that the data from the community/respondents are the ones with the help of which we obtain relevant data. Another method used in this research is a survey of the individual approach in the field with the Roma community. In addition to the interviews we conducted and the field surveys, information from the chat boot with the community was also used.

THE RESULTS

Table No. 1. A survey conducted in 2020 by the method of semi-structured interview and information from the chatbot

From Table No. 1, we can conclude that the authorities do not react sufficiently to the issue of prevention and prevention of natural disasters. Also, after assessing the compensation, the commission does not provide explanations to the affected families for which reason there are no grounds for compensation. According to Table No. 1, we can also see that a large number of affected families did not receive a response from the competent institutions after the commission's assessment of the investigation.

Graph No. 1. A survey conducted in 2020 by the method of semi-structured interview and chat boot

From chart number 1, a survey conducted in 2020 shows that the commission in 8% of cases did not come to the inspection, in 17% acts selectively and in 75% of cases the commission went to the inspection, but research shows that in cases where the commission going out did not give positive results.

From Table No. 1, the results of which we obtained from the 2020 survey using the semi-structured interview method, we can conclude the following:

• The commission comes out for an investigation, but the affected families do not receive compensation from the competent institutions;
• The commission comes out for an investigation, but there is no answer even after a long time;
• The commission comes out for an investigation after 30 days from the day of sending the letter, but without positive results;
• The Commission decides that there are no grounds for damages.

Graph No. 2. Results of the research from October 2021 were conducted through the method of individual field surveys.

Graph 2 shows the results of research from field visits, which included a total of 31 families at the locations of Aleksinac, Vranje, Vladicin Han, Prokuplje and Nis. In most cases, ie by 61% of respondents, we find out that the commission went to the inspection, while in 39% of respondents the commission did not go to the inspection.

Graph number 3. Whether the compensation was paid by the competent institutions. Research results from October 2021

In Graph 3, we can see that 90% of respondents did not receive compensation from competent institutions, while 10% did. The data we obtained came from a survey in October 2021 using the field survey method. The compensation that the families received from the authorities was in the amount of 5,000 dinars to 20,000 dinars. The amount of compensation for damages is determined according to the assessment of the commission, there are five categories and the largest amount of compensation that can be obtained is 600,000 dinars.

Graph No. 4. Did the institutions do anything regarding the prevention and prevention of these problems? Research results from October 2021

In Graph 4 you can see that in 65% of cases the institutions did nothing to prevent or prevent the problems that the Roma community faces during natural disasters. 35% of respondents answered that the institutions responded.

According to the research of October 2021, by the method of field surveys, we came to the conclusion that those local institutions that react do not react in a way that would completely solve the problem. Local institutions reacted in this case on a short-term level. The following are examples of how local institutions reacted after natural disasters:

• Aleksinac - a family that was hit by an accident in which they lost their house in a fire due to poor installation - the authorities provided them with food, clothing, hygiene, and food packages
• Lepenica (Vladicin Han) - 10 family houses flooded in 2020 and 2021 - the authorities repaired the problem of cleaning that location.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

From the above data, based on research conducted by ORS on two occasions, we conclude that the disturbing data on the extent to which the competent institutions do not respond sufficiently to the prevention and prevention of natural disasters, which results in recurrence of natural disasters and negative impact on the economy and the health of Roma men and women. Commissioners for civil protection are necessary in order to involve the Roma community in decision-making concerning themselves. Namely, in addition to the stated facts, the competent institutions leave the affected families unanswered during the commission investigations, while others receive answers that there are no grounds for compensation. Precisely because of the previously mentioned examples of competent institutions, we need commissioners for civil protection from Roma communities. Civil protection commissioners can be deployed in a particular local community depending on how many Roma there are in one area. The local self-government determines the number of commissioners per local community depending on how many inhabitants there are in a certain area. Local institutions did not do enough even in the context of Roma families who were flooded to explain the laws, procedure and necessary conditions for acquiring this right, including criteria for assessing different categories of damage and assessing means of recovery. In order not to repeat the catastrophe that befell the Roma community, the commissioners for the civil community are a solution that we can use in order to solve the issue of natural disasters as soon as possible and to prevent them. Opre Roma Serbia proposes that local institutions in such cases explain the laws, procedures and necessary conditions for acquiring rights during natural disasters and thus help Roma families that were affected and that the assessment of damage be proportional to the actual damage to buildings. Also, the authorities should not act selectively in the future when assessing compensation, determine the consequences of natural disasters in Roma families and work on their prevention and prevention.