The role of social capital, personal networks, and emergency responders in post-disaster recovery and resilience: a study of rural communities in Indiana

The factors that explain the speed of recovery after disaster remain contested. While many have argued that physical infrastructure, social capital, and disaster damage influence the arc of recovery, empirical studies that test these various factors within a unified modeling framework are few. We co...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Natural hazards (Dordrecht) Vol. 90; no. 3; pp. 1377 - 1406
Main Authors: Sadri, Arif Mohaimin, Ukkusuri, Satish V., Lee, Seungyoon, Clawson, Rosalee, Aldrich, Daniel, Nelson, Megan Sapp, Seipel, Justin, Kelly, Daniel
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.02.2018
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Civil Engineering
Damage
Data recovery
Disaster management
Disaster recovery
Disasters
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Emergencies
Emergency management
Emergency medical services
Emergency response
Emergency vehicles
Environmental Management
First responders
Frameworks
Geophysics/Geodesy
Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences
Households
Hydrogeology
Modelling
Natural Hazards
Networks
Original Paper
Recovery
Resilience
Rural areas
Rural communities
Social capital
Social organization
Surveying
Tornadoes
Indiana
United States > US
Emergency responders
Ordered probit
Personal networks
Social capital
Resilience
Post-disaster recovery
ISSN:0921-030X, 1573-0840
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The factors that explain the speed of recovery after disaster remain contested. While many have argued that physical infrastructure, social capital, and disaster damage influence the arc of recovery, empirical studies that test these various factors within a unified modeling framework are few. We conducted a mail survey to collect data on household recovery in four small towns in southern Indiana that were hit by deadly tornadoes in March 2012. The recovery effort is ongoing; while many of the homes, businesses, and community facilities were rebuilt in 2013, some are still under construction. We investigate how households in these communities are recovering from damage that they experienced and the role of social capital, personal networks, and assistance from emergency responders on the overall recovery experience. We used an ordered probit modeling framework to test the combined as well as relative effects of (a) damage to physical infrastructures (houses, vehicles, etc.); (b) recovery assistance from emergency responders (FEMA) as well as friends and neighbors; (c) personal network characteristics (size, network density, proximity, length of relationship); (d) social capital (civic engagement, contact with neighbors, trust); and (e) household characteristics. Results show that while households with higher levels of damage experienced slower recovery, those with recovery assistance from neighbors, stronger personal networks, and higher levels of social capital experienced faster recovery. The insights gained in this study will enable emergency managers and disaster response personnel to implement targeted strategies in facilitating post-disaster recovery and community resilience.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ISSN:0921-030X
1573-0840
DOI:10.1007/s11069-017-3103-0