Contrasted place-based emotional experiences after a disaster

Emotion-place-disaster research tends to focus more on people and communities than on places and their specificities. Our study aims to explore disparities in people's place-based emotional experiences in the recovery period in a region of the Philippines affected by Typhoon Haiyan. We used an original data collection game in which respondents were asked to associate pictures of places with emoticons and to explain these associations. A fully integrated mixed data analysis was then used to characterize non-Typhoon and Typhoon-related place-based emotional experiences. The large panel of descriptive results reveals predominantly positive emotional experiences that intertwine tangible and intangible facets of the person-place relationship. A variety of emotions and their meanings, individual and group concerns, and experiences before, during and after the disaster combine to produce contrasting place-based emotional experiences. In particular, the heterogeneity of the material impacts of the Typhoon on places and their implications for disaster recovery are described and discussed. We argue that further developments in the field should take into account the diversity of place-based emotional experiences highlighted in this research, which can improve disaster preparedness and response strategies and play an important role in disaster recovery.