Relational Symmetries of Disaster Resilience Explored Through the Sendai Framework’s Guiding Principles

This article applies the ethical relational philosophy of Paul Riceour’s "Oneself as Another" to analyse how international policy documents align, or don’t align in their local translation with regards to disaster risk reduction and resilience in the context of the Sendai Framework’s 13 guiding principles that are about ‘how’ we progress the Framework’s key actions. The article highlights that there is often an asymmetry to such translation across these structural policies, including conflicts between Human Rights, Housing Laws, SDGs and International Investment Law when it comes to resilience building in communities. A contribution to knowledge is offered through fresh insights for informing a revised framing of the Sendai Framework 13 Guiding Principles. This includes practical examples for how to: 1. work in ways to transgress structuralist boundaries to foster institutional co-ordination; 2. integrate the relational concept of affect to achieve more ethical decision-making and 3. generate coherent practices through the assimilation of difference of another through the sharing of common tools that are not subject to jurisdictional boundaries.