‘Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire’: Mauritian Social Workers’ Perspectives on Disaster Governance in Mauritius

Abstract Mauritius, which is a Small Island Developing State with low economic resilience and limited capacity to deal with disasters, is currently trying to recover from two major disasters—COVID-19 and an oil spill caused by a shipwreck. This article aims to explore the Mauritian social workers’ perspectives on the disaster governance in relation to these double disasters. Data were collected from eighteen social workers using web-based/ online interview tools in September 2020. An abductive thematic network method based on governance network theory was used to analyse the collected data with the help of the ATLAS.ti software. In the findings, the perspectives of the respondents on the structures and mechanisms for disaster social work and the factors that affect disaster governance in Mauritius are presented and discussed. This article concludes that there is a lack of organised structures and mechanisms for disaster social work, and there is a need to promote good governance in disaster response in Mauritius.