Disaster risk at the margins: Homelessness, vulnerability and hazards

• We provide evidence of the foregoing issues on homelessness and hazards in Delhi.
• Disasters affect those at the margins the most, including the homeless.
• The homeless are particularly vulnerable to everyday and large-scale hazards.
• Homeless people's vulnerability is rooted in their invisibility in society.
• The homeless are excluded from disaster risk reduction policies and practice.

Many marginalised groups have received significant attention in disaster literature and disaster risk reduction policy, however others, such as the urban homeless, have stirred much less academic and policy interest. There has also been limited consideration among disaster specialists, who tend to concentrate on large-scale disaster risk, on the significance of everyday hazards and small-scale disasters for those living at the margins. Drawing on a scoping study that explored homelessness and hazards in Delhi, India, this paper contributes to closing these gaps as well as emerging discussions on disaster risk at the margins. The study focuses on the linkages between the multi-faceted marginalisation of homeless people and their various vulnerabilities to disaster associated with both everyday small-scale hazards and large-scale natural hazards. Highlighting the complexity and acute vulnerability of homeless people to disaster from a multitude of man-made and natural hazards at different scales, it argues for more attention and integration of homeless people's needs and everyday hazards in disaster research and policy. Some specific areas for future research are provided.