The role of household social capital in post-disaster recovery: An empirical study in Japan

Local Government of Magelang Regency initiates the Sister Village Program after Mount Merapi Eruption in 2010. The idea of this program is to connect villages at risk from Merapi eruption to partner villages with less risk in the surrounding regions. This program is part of post-disaster recovery initiatives at the local level which includes planned evacuation routes, shelters, provision of food and other daily essentials. This paper aims to shed light on the role of sister village program in promoting community resilience after the volcanic eruption of Merapi. It is found that the system of sister village program can fulfill many aspects of community resilience components. Considering Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, this program should be regarded as a good example to be replicated in other prone areas in the country.

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Social capital and livelihood strategies in response after 2013 Kedarnath disaster (India)

Disaster Prevention and Management An International Journal ◽

10.1108/dpm-07-2019-0221 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Sakshi Naithani ◽

Ashis Kumar Saha

Keyword(s):

Social Capital ◽

Disaster Response ◽

Geographical Location ◽

Secondary Data ◽

Livelihood Strategies ◽

Content Type ◽

Detection Analysis ◽

Post Disaster

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the role of livelihood assets, strategies and local social networks in disaster response and recovery in post-disaster setting of 2013 Kedarnath disaster (India).Design/methodology/approachIt identifies post disaster macro-spaces of Mandakini river valley (India) using change detection analysis and secondary data. Within these macro-spaces, the micro spaces of livelihood and social capital were assessed by selecting two villages for case study.FindingsMost important issues faced by communities were loss of lives, livelihoods and access to relief aid. A shift in economic base of families suffering loss of livelihoods was observed as they switched from pilgrimage-based to skill-based opportunities. Geographical location and isolation play a crucial role in recovery trajectory of villages by influencing the social capital.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper being case study based deals two of the worst-affected villages; livelihood strategies adopted and social network may be influenced by the “victim” status of villages and may not be generalized for each disaster-affected area.Social implicationsBridging and bonding networks were significant in geographically isolated places, while “linkages” were beneficial in bringing new livelihood opportunities. Need to enhance the role of social capital by institutional intervention in form of capacity building was required.Originality/valueThe study suggests focus on human capital-based livelihood diversification programs taking geographical location and disaster context into account.

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Disaster-Recovery Social Capital and Community Participation in Earthquake-Stricken Ya’an Areas

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11040993 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 993 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Zhichao Li ◽

Xihan Tan

Keyword(s):

Social Capital ◽

Local Government ◽

Community Participation ◽

Disaster Recovery ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Community Activities ◽

Self Organized ◽

Relationship Network ◽

The Impact ◽

Post Disaster

Social capital plays a significant role in post-disaster community participation and disaster recovery. This study divides social capital into three aspects: Cognition, structure, and relation, and discusses the impact of these factors on community participation in post-disaster recovery. Through data analysis, we found that a self-organized relationship villager network had a positive effect on villagers’ participation in voluntary community activities after an earthquake, while the local cadre relationship network had a negative impact. However, the latter could encourage villagers to participate in disaster-recovery activities organized by the local government. These findings indicate that the mobilization mechanism for post-disaster local-government reconstruction and community self-organization are the same, both coming through the social-acquaintance network, a type of noninstitutionalized social capital. The implication of this study suggests that local government should attach much importance to the construction and integration of social networks in earthquake-stricken areas to cultivate community social capital.

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