THE ROLE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL, PERSONAL NETWORKS, AND EMERGENCY RESPONDERS IN POST-DISASTER RECOVERY AND RESILIENCE

The factors that explain the speed of recovery after disaster remain contested. Many have argued that physical infrastructure, social capital, and disaster damage are factors which influence the arc of recovery. We conducted a... [ view full abstract ]

The factors that explain the speed of recovery after disaster remain contested. Many have argued that physical infrastructure, social capital, and disaster damage are factors which influence the arc of recovery. We conducted a mail survey to collect data on household recovery in several small towns in southern Indiana (Henryville, Marysville, New Pekin, and Lexington) that were hit by deadly tornadoes in March 2012. The recovery effort is ongoing; many of the homes, businesses, and community facilities were rebuilt in 2013, and some are still under construction. We investigate how households in these communities are recovering from the level of 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 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, density, proximity, length of relationship); (d) social capital (civic engagement, contact with neighbors, trust) and (e) household characteristics, within a unified modeling framework. Based on our analysis, while households with higher levels of damage experienced slower recovery, those with stronger personal networks, recovery assistance from neighbors, 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 making communities more resilient and facilitating post-disaster recovery.