Social, not physical, infrastructure: the critical role of civil society after the 1923 Tokyo earthquake

Despite the tremendous destruction wrought by catastrophes, social science holds few quantitative assessments of explanations for the rate of recovery. This article illuminates four factors—damage, population density, human capital, and economic capital—that are thought to explain the variation in t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Disasters Vol. 36; no. 3; pp. 398 - 419
Main Author: Aldrich, Daniel P.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.07.2012
Subjects:
Accidents
Capital
Civil Society
Cross-sectional analysis
Cross-Sectional Studies
Cultural Capital
Damage
Disaster management
Disaster recovery
Disaster Relief
Disasters
Disasters - history
Earthquake damage
Earthquake prediction
Earthquakes
Earthquakes - history
Earthquakes - statistics & numerical data
Economic conditions
Economic Factors
Economics
Handling
History, 20th Century
Human Capital
Humans
Infrastructure
Japan
Mathematical models
Natural disasters
Neighborhoods
Population
Population Density
Population Dynamics - history
Propensity
Propensity Score
Public policy
Quantitative analysis
Recovery
Residence Characteristics
Seismic activity
Seismic phenomena
Social capital
Social Environment
Social factors
Social sciences
Studies
Time series
Tokyo
Tokyo earthquake
Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo
Tokyo Japan
Japan
ISSN:0361-3666, 1467-7717, 1467-7717
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Despite the tremendous destruction wrought by catastrophes, social science holds few quantitative assessments of explanations for the rate of recovery. This article illuminates four factors—damage, population density, human capital, and economic capital—that are thought to explain the variation in the pace of population recovery following disaster; it also explores the popular but relatively untested factor of social capital. Using time‐series, cross‐sectional models and propensity score matching, it tests these approaches using new data from the rebuilding of 39 neighbourhoods in Tokyo after its 1923 earthquake. Social capital, more than earthquake damage, population density, human capital, or economic capital, best predicts population recovery in post‐earthquake Tokyo. These findings suggest new approaches for research on social capital and disasters as well as public policy avenues for handling catastrophes.
Bibliography:ark:/67375/WNG-QSP4BKXP-W
ArticleID:DISA1263
istex:7A64C3DD89F69CADAA767CD2AE797D72FBC8C687
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0361-3666
1467-7717
1467-7717
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-7717.2011.01263.x